
THERINE BEARNE 



PICTURES OF THE OLD 
FRENCH COURT 













I El 




¥ ; 



AMROISE. 



Pictures of the 
Old French Court 

Jeanne de Bourbon 
Isabeau de Baviere 
Anne de Bretagne 

B 

By 

Catherine Bearne 

Author of 

" Lives and Times of the Early Valois Oueens " 



ILLUSTRATED BY EDWARD H. BEARNE FROM ANCIENT 
PRINTS, ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, &c. 



NEW YORK 

E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 

1900 



■ 7 

'B33 




THE .UftUKV OF C0»S 



PREFACE 



IN a former book I endeavoured, from information 
gathered out of the records of the first half of 
the fourteenth century, to give some idea of the 
court and social conditions of France at that time, 
and also of the first three Valois Queens, whose very 
existence appears unknown to the average English 
reader. This was no easy matter owing to the 
scarcity of details, which had to be carefully gleaned 
from amongst masses of histories and chronicles of 
battles, sieges, conspiracies, general councils, and 
other public events. 

The present volume treats of the years between 
the latter part of the fourteenth and beginning of the 
sixteenth centuries, about which so much more in- 
formation exists that I have found it necessary to 
abandon, for want of space, my intention of giving 
a short account of the courts of Marie d'Anjou and 
Charlotte de Savoie, wives of Charles VII. and Louis 
XL, who took very little part in public affairs ; and 
to give a much shorter account of the reign of Anne 
de Bretagne. 



viii PREFACE 

Very little has been written about Isabeau de 
Baviere, and much less still concerning Jeanne de 
Bourbon, whereas a great deal is known of Anne 
de Bretagne, the history of whose life has more than 
once been related. To an interesting biography of 
her by Louisa Stuart Costello, and an invaluable 
one by Le Roux de Lincy I am much indebted. I 
have, as before, consulted many early chronicles, 
histories, and letters, French, English, German, 
Italian, and Spanish, besides the works of various 
excellent modern writers, whose names I quote. 
Accuracy being of the greatest importance in books 
like these, I give, in reply to the observation of 
a critic, that the lines I quoted referring to the 
siege of Cassel are incorrect, the original of De 
Nangis : — 

" In dicto vero castro, in regis et totius Francorum 
exercitus derisum et subsannationem, in quodam 
eminenti loco posuerant Flammingi quemdam gallum 
permaximum de tela tincta, dicentes : ' Ouando gallus 
iste cantabit, rex Cassellum capiet vi armorum.' Unde 
et gallice in gallo scriptum erat : 

' Quand ce coq chante aura. 
Le Roy Cassel conquestera."' 1 

I quoted these lines from the " Grandes Chroniques." 2 

1 " Chron. Guill. de Nangis," t. ii. p. 94. Societe de l'histoire 
de France. 

2 " Les Grandes Chron.," confirment la le;;on in gallo, mais donnent 
deux vers un peu differents. 

Quant ce coq-ci chante ara 
Le roy trouve ca entrera. 



PREFACE ix 

To another critic who says he has never heard of 
the " Grand dictionnaire de Morery," and suggests 
that no such book exists, I can only reply that I have 
it upon my shelves. It is in several folio volumes, 
was published at Paris 1699, an< ^ is quoted by various 
historians. It is sometimes spelt " Moreri." 



CONTENTS 

REIGN OF CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON. 

CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

The House of Bourbon — Marriage of Pierre de Bourbon and 
Isabelle de Valois — Birth of their children — Betrothal of 
Jeanne to the Comte de Savoie — To the Dauphin Humbert 
— Her marriage with the heir of France — Character of t ~"~ 
Charles — Death of Philippe VI. — Coronation of King and 
Queen — Charles invested with Duchy of Normandy — 
Marriage of the Queen of Spain — Pedro el Cruel — Marriage 
of the Comtesse de Savoie — Death of the Due de Bourbon at 
Poitiers ....... I 

CHAPTER II. 

France after the Battle of Poitiers — The Jacquerie — The Marche 
de Meaux — The Comte de Foix and the Captal de Buch — 
Rescue of the Dauphine — Vengeance of the nobles . .16 

CHAPTER III. 

Return of Charles and Jeanne to Paris — Marriage of Catherine de 
Bourbon to the Comte de Harcourt — The Celestins — The 
Treaty of Bretigny — Marriage of Isabelle de France to 
Giovanni Visconti — Return of the King — Death of the 
children of the Dauphine — The plague — The Duchy of 
Burgundy . . . . . -33 



xii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IV. 



PAGE 



King Jean returns to England — His death — Coronation of 
Charles V. and Jeanne de Bourbon — Murder of Blanche, 
Queen of Spain — The Celestine Church— The Abbey of 
Chelles — The King's library — Magnificence of the Court — 
Birth and death of the second Princess Jeanne . . 49 



CHAPTER V. 

Comet — Meeting of Parliament — Marriage of the Queen's sister 
— The Louvre and its gardens — Christine de Pisan — The 
Dauphin — His christening — War — French victories — Pros- 
perity of France — Hotel St. Paul — Birth of Marie de France 
— Capture and liberation of the Queen's mother — Bonne, 
Comtesse de Savoie — Birth of Louis and Isabelle de France 
— Louis, Due de Bourbon . . . . .68 



CHAPTER VI. 

Illness of the Queen — Her recovery — Floods in Paris — Death of 
several princesses of the royal family — Bertrand du Guesclin 
— Court of Charles V. and Jeanne de Bourbon — The peers of 
France — The King's will — Betrothal of his daughters — Visit 
of the Emperor — The Emperor Charles and the Duchess- 
dowager de Bourbon — Birth of the Princess Catherine — 
Death of the Queen — Of the Princess Isabelle — Grief of the 
King — His death ...... 



REIGN OF CHARLES VI. and ISABEAU DE BAV1ERE. 

CHAPTER I. 

The House of Wittelsbach — Stephan von Wittelsbach and Taddea 
Visconti — Birth of Isabeau — Negotiations for her marriage — 
Her journey to Brussels — The fair of Amiens — Her interview 
with the King — Her wedding — Charles and Louis de France 107 



CONTENTS xiii 

CHAPTER II. 

PAGE 

Royal Family and Court of France — Birth and death of Charles 
and Jeanne de France — Dress and amusements — The Abbey 
of St. Denis — Knighthood of the King of Sicily — The ball — 
Duchesse de Berry — Valentine Visconti . . .124 

CHAPTER III. 

State entry of Isabeau into Paris — Magnificent fetes — Southern 
tour of Charles and Louis — Bad health of Charles — Bonne 
d'Artois and Jean de Clermont — Dreadful storm — Birth of 
Dauphin — Death of Blanche, Duchesse d'Orleans — Pierre de 
Craon and the Constable de Clisson — Madness of the King . 147 

CHAPTER IV. 

Tyranny of the Duchess of Burgundy — Birth of Marie de France 
— The Duchesse de Berry saves La Riviere — Doctor Hassely 
— The King recovers — The Masquerade — Dreadful fire — 
King ill — The sorcerers — King recovers — Dr. Freron — 
King ill again — Accusations against Louis and Valentine 
d'Orleans — Birth of Louis de France — Betrothal of Isabelle 
de France to Richard II. of England — Their marriage- 
Disastrous crusade — Marriage of Jeanne de France to Due 
de Bretagne — Marie de France takes the veil . .166 

CHAPTER V. 

Illness of the King — Execution of the sorcerers — Birth of Jean de 
France — Death of Queen Blanche de Navarre — Household 
of Isabeau — Ludwig of Bavaria — Ancient Paris — The Queen's 
chateaux — Burgundy and Orleans — Henry of Lancaster — The 
plague — Revolution in England — The Dauphin Charles . 192 

CHAPTER VI. 

Courage of the young Queen of England — Death of the Dauphin 
— Birth of Catherine de France — Intrigues of Louis 
d'Orleans, and quarrels at Court — Return of the Queen of 
England — Burgundians and Orleanists — Birth of Charles 
de France — Dreadful storms — Death of Duke of Burgundy 



xiv CONTENTS 

PAGE 

— Illness of Due de Berry — Conduct of Savoisy — Frere 
Jacques Legrand — The Princess Marie's choice — Accident in 
the forest — The King and the Dauphin — Jean Sans-peur — 
The King ill — Eclipse — Royal weddings — The great winter 
— Murder of Louis d'Orleans . . . .212 

CHAPTER VII. 

Departure of Royal Family — Hundred Years' War — Valentine 
d'Orleans — Queen's return to Louvre — Death of Valentine — 
Forced reconciliation — Philippe de Bourgogne and Michelle 
de France — Misconduct of the Due de Bretagne — Death of 
Isabelle de France — Of the Due de Bourbon — Quarrels of 
the Duke and Duchess of Aquitaine — Of the princes . . 242 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Riots led by Burgundy — The Due d'Aquitaine's ball — His 
quarrels with Burgundy — The Comte de Charolais — The 
Battle of Azincourt — Death of Louis d'Aquitaine — The 
Dauphin Jean — His court — His death — Imprisonment of 
the Queen — Jean Sans-peur rescues her — Enters Paris by 
night — Massacre of Armagnacs — The Dauphin Charles — 
Murder of Jean Sans-peur — Marriage of Catherine de France 
to Henry V. — Departure for England — Birth of a son — 
Return to Paris — Festivities — Death of Henry V.— Death 
of Charles VI. — Retirement of the Queen— Henry VI. enters 
Paris — Treaty of Arras — Death of Isabeau . . . 260 



Marie D'Anjou, wife of Charles VII. ; Charlotte de Savoie, wife 

of Louis XL ...... 299 



REIGN OF ANNE DE BRETAGNE, WIFE OF 
CHARLES VIII. and LOUIS XII. 

CHAPTER I. 

Birth of Anne and Isabelle — Their childhood — Louis d'Orleans 
— Alain d'Albret — Death of Francois II. — First council 
— French war — Marriage ceremony — Siege of Rennes . 303 



CONTENTS 
CHAPTER II. 



PAGE 



Joustes before Rennes — Death of Isabelle — Betrothal of Anne 
— Marguerite of Austria — Marriage of Anne to Charles 
VIII. — Birth of the Dauphin — Italian war — Return of 
Charles — Death of Dauphin — Birth and death of other 
children— Death of Charles VIII. . . . .316 

CHAPTER III. 

Despair of the Queen — Resumes duchy — -Friendship with Louis 
XII. — Returns to Bretagne — King's divorce — Charlotte 
d'Aragon — Marriage of Anne to Louis XII. — Italian war 
"■" — Birth of Claude de France — Splendour of the Court — 
Hotel des Tournelles — The Maids of Honour — Disasters in 
Italy ........ 328 

CHAPTER IV. 

Ludovico Sforza — Shipbuilding — Queen's gardens — Library — 
Treasures — Dress — Betrothal of Claude de France — Arch- 
duke's visit — Illness of King — Marechal de Gie — Second 
illness of King — Queen in Bretagne — Second betrothal of 
Princess Claude . . . . . . 341 

CHAPTER V. 

Story of Anne de Graville — Illness of Claude — Court of Anne 
de Bretagne — Italian war — Marriage of Marguerite 
d'Angouleme — Dress and customs at Court — Birth of Renee 
de France — The Prince de Chalais — The Queen ill — Birth 
and death of a son — League of Cambrai — Sea-fight — Death 
of the Queen ...... 353 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Amboise . . . . . Fr 


ontispiece 




PAGE 


Jeanne de Bourbon ...... 


. 6 


Meaux ....... 


25 


French Noble, Fourteenth Century 


. 5 6 


Lady of French Court, Fourteenth Century 


67 


The Bastille ...... 


. 80 


Meeting of the Queen and her Mother . 


86 


Shield of Jeanne de Bourbon .... 


• 105 


Isabeau de Baviere ..... 


117 


Nevers . . . . . . 


. 186 


The Prioress of Poissy ..... 


190 


Bedroom of the Fifteenth Century .... 


• 197 


Old Paris ...... 


202 


The Louvre, from the Hotel de Nesle 


. 207 


Hotel Barbette ...... 


237 


Bourges ....... 


• 257 


Man in Armour, Fifteenth Century 


273 


Map of English Possessions in France, 1380-1422 . 


. 287 


Shield of Isabeau de Baviere .... 


298 


Marie d'Anjou ...... 


• 299 


Shield of Marie d'Anjou .... 


300 


Charlotte de Savoie ..... 


• 301 


Shield of Charlotte de Savoie .... 


302 


Anne de Bretagne ..... 


• 310 


Trumpeter ...... 


3i6 


Tour d' Amboise ...... 


• 323 


Louis XII. . . 


330 


Bourges . . ... 


• 333 


Lady of Fifteenth Century .... 


339 


Blois ....... 


• 342 


Loches ....... 


349 


Shield of Anne de Bretagne .... 


• 364 



THE 



PICTURES OF 
OLD FRENCH COURT 



REIGN OF CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE 
BOURBON 

CHAPTER I 
1332-1356 



The House of Bourbon- 
Valois 




Marriage of Pierre de Bourbon and Isabelle de 
-Birth of their children — Betrothal of Jeanne 
to the Comte de Savoie — To the Dauphin Humbert — 
Her marriage with the heir of France — Character of 
Charles — Death of Philippe VI. — Coronation of King 
and Queen — Charles invested with Duchy of Nor- 
mandy — Marriage of the Queen of Spain — Pedro el 
Cruel — Marriage of the Comtesse de Savoie — Death 
of the Due de Bourbon at Poitiers. 



f HE royal house of Bour- 
bon descends from Saint 
Louis through his sixth 
son, Robert, Comte de 
Clermont and Sire de 
Bourbon. The pedigree is 



as follows : — 



PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT 



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1335] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 3 

Jeanne de Bourbon was the great-granddaughter 
of Saint Louis. Her father was Pierre, Due de 
Bourbon, and her mother Isabelle, one of the 
younger daughters of Charles, Comte de Valois. 1 
Their eldest daughter, Jeanne, was born February 
3, 1335, and within a year or so of each other 
their second daughter, Blanche, and their son Louis. 2 
The other daughters were Bonne, Catherine, Mar- 
guerite, Isabelle (?), and Marie.3 

The Duchesse de Bourbon being a half-sister of 
Philippe, and her husband one of his favourite com- 
panions, they spent most of their time and money 
also, at Paris, Vincennes, and the other royal palaces 
in the gay, brilliant days when first the Valois came 
to the throne. 

Jeanne was born at Vincennes, and passed her 
childhood at that magnificent court over which she 
was so early chosen to reign. She was betrothed at 
six years old to Amadeo VI. (afterwards called the 

1 Charles de Valois had three wives and fourteen children ; two or 
three of his daughters were named Isabelle. One married Robert 
d'Artois. Sainte-Marthe says the marriage of Pierre and Isabelle took 
place in 1322, in her early childhood ; but other historians, with more 
probability, place it in 1332. 

2 It is difficult to reconcile the conflicting dates given by historians. 
There. is no doubt that Jeanne was the eldest daughter, yet some place 
her birth in 1337 ; and the second daughter Blanche, who in that case 
would not have been born till 1338, is nevertheless declared to have 
been sixteen years old when she became Queen of Spain, 1352, which 
is manifestly impossible. 

3 There seems to be some doubt about Isabelle, as we hear nothing 
about her in after life. One historian confuses her with her sister 
Marguerite ; another states that she married one Guillaume, Sire ue 
Mello ; others that she died unmarried ; most do not mention her at 
all. If she ever existed she most probably died in childhood. 



4 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1346 

Green Count) of Savoy. 1 With the state and splen- 
dour that surrounded her earliest years were mingled 
those national calamities which had already begun to 
cast their shadow over the kingdom of France. 

The Hundred Years' War had broken out soon 
after her birth. The disastrous sea-fight ending in 
the total destruction of the French navy, took place 
in 1338. 

Taxes were high ; there had been bad harvests, 
bringing famine and pestilence. France was already 
less prosperous than she had been under the Cape- 
tiens kings. 

The terrors and troubles of the English war must 
have left a deep impression on the imagination of the 
gentle child, who seems to have been remarkable for 
her beauty and sweetness of disposition. She was 
between nine and ten years old at the time when the 
English host lay encamped near Paris, when gates 
and walls were strictly guarded and men were arming 
in haste, while fugitives poured into Paris all day, 
and the nights were illumined with flames of burning 
castles and villages. Her father was in the battle of 
Crecy, but returned in safety, and not long afterwards 
her little sister Bonne was married to the younger son 
of the Due de Brabant. The Princess Joan, eldest 
daughter of the Due de Normandie, was married on 
the same day to the elder son of the Due de Brabant, 
by the desire of the King, who wrote orders that his 
granddaughter and niece should be ready on a certain 
day to meet the two boys who were to be their hus- 

1 The Counts of Savoy were, as is well known, ancestors of the 
Kings of Italy. 



1348] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 5 

bands. The ceremony took place, but both the boys 
died a little later of the plague. Joan afterwards 
became Queen of Navarre, and Bonne Countess of 
Savoy. 

The Duchesse de Bourbon and her children must 
have left Paris and returned to their home in the 
Bourbonnais, for the Duke wrote there from Paris on 
July 22, 1348, to announce to his eldest daughter, 
whose engagement to the Comte de Savoie had been 
broken off, that her uncle, Gui, Comte de Forez, had 
brought proposals of marriage for her from Humbert, 
Dauphin du Viennois, which he had accepted. But 
the plague was then raging all over the Lyonnais, so 
that it was out of the question to run the risk of 
travelling at that time. The Duke therefore in- 
duced the Dauphin to consent to the marriage being 
deferred for the present. Humbert was scarcely a 
suitable husband for Jeanne, who was then eleven 
years old, while he was a widower, whose only son 
had lost his life by falling from his arms out of a 
balcony, as he was playing with him. The shock of 
this accident and the loss of his heir had cast a gloom 
over the life of the Dauphin, and when a second time 
the Due de Bourbon sought to delay the arrange- 
ments for the marriage, he replied that in that case 
he considered himself free from all engagements. 
The Due de Bourbon, on hearing this, went to meet 
the Dauphin, and after an interview between the two 
princes the negotiations were resumed, in January, 
1 349, and the middle of February following was fixed 
upon for their fulfilment. But whether the desire to 
quit the world and seek the consolations of religion 



PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1349 



in the retirement of the cloister had already taken 
strong hold upon his mind, or whether the secret 
ambition and intrigues of the French court had any 
influence on the matter, it was suddenly given out 
that the Dauphin had decided to renounce the world 
and enter the order of St. Dominic, and had arranged 
for the immediate cession of his estates to the King's 

grandson, Charles, eldest 
son of the Duke of Nor- 
mandy. Humbert, the last 
prince of the house of La 
Tour du Pin, had already, 
by treaties passed in 1343 
and 1344, promised the 
Viennois, afterwards known 
as Dauphine, to Philippe, 
younger son of Philippe VI. 
Then the young Philippe 
had been made Due d'Or- 
leans instead, and the pro- 
vince was to go to Jean, 
but at last it was given to 
the heir of the Duke of 
Normandy, and from this 
time forth that province, with the title of Dauphin, 
was the inheritance of the eldest sons of France. To 
the Due de Bourbon the King offered, instead of 
Humbert de la Tour du Pin, his own grandson, for 
a son-in-law ; an exchange with which it is needless 
to say the Duke was well content. The treaty was 
signed at Lyon in July, 1349. 

So Jeanne was, after all, to be Dauphine, but her 




Jwinf "I* Aourboi\ . 



1350] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 7 

husband, instead of a widower old enough to be her 
father, was to be a young prince of her own age and 
the future King of France. 

They were married at Vincennes in the following 
year, on the 8th of April, 1350, both of them being 
about thirteen or fourteen years old. Of course they 
were not strangers to each other, for they were 
cousins, and had both been brought up at the court 
of their grandfather and uncle in Paris, and at that 
ancient castle in the deep shade of the forest, where 
generations of the children of France r had been 
born, had played in childhood, grown to manhood 
or womanhood, ruled, loved, suffered and died. The 
love of the forest and of all beauty in nature and 
art lay deep in the heart of the young Dauphin, who 
in no way resembled his father or grandfather. That 
Philippe and Jean de Valois, the chivalrous King of 
Bohemia or the warlike Princes of Burgundy should 
have, had such a descendant would surely have 
seemed impossible at that time and with those sur- 
roundings. 

Charles had neither inherited the striking beauty 
nor the martial tastes of the Valois. He was a quiet, 
delicate lad, tall, pale, dark-eyed and rather timid. 
He cared very little for riding, and not at all for war 
and warlike pastimes, but delighted in study and 
literary pursuits. And he adored the Dauphine, 
whose bright beauty and charming character made 

1 Only the children of the King and the heir-apparent were called 
" Enfants de France." It was for centuries later the rule that only the 
Enfants de France might ride or drive into the Louvre, Palais, Hotel 
St. Paul, Tournelles, or any royal palace. Princes of the blood must 
get down at the door, nobles in the street. (De Sauval.) 



8 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1350 

her the idol of the court and country. The children 
had been attached to one another from the first, and 
as they grew older Charles, both as Dauphin and 
King, ever turned for sympathy, counsel, or consola- 
tion to Jeanne, whom he called " the light of his eyes 
and the sunshine of the kingdom." 

The plague had now abated, and people were 
beginning to recover from the fear and depression in 
which they had lately been living. The royal family 
had suffered severely. The Dauphin had lost his 
mother and grandmother ; the two little princesses, 
sisters of himself and the Dauphine, were widows ; the 
Queen of Navarre, whose daughter Blanche the King 
had just married, was also among the victims of the 
pestilence. However, for the present the plague was 
over, and those who had escaped now breathed freely 
and tried to console themselves in different ways for 
the calamities of the last two years. The Duke of 
Normandy was married just after his father to the 
widowed Comtessed'Auvergne ; there were fetes again 
at court, and things seemed to be returning to their 
usual state. The death of Philippe VI. came as a 
sudden shock in the midst of the general rejoicing ; 
but then followed the coronation of the new King 
and Queen, which was celebrated with great magni- 
ficence. On the same day the King knighted his two 
eldest sons, the Dauphin, and Louis, afterwards 
Due d'Anjou, his brother Philippe, Due d'Orleans, 
his stepson Philippe, Due de Bourgogne, his cousins 
the Comtes d'Alencon and d'Etampes, and other 
young nobles. The King and Queen left Reims on 
Monday evening and journeyed by Laon, Soissons, 



1352] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 9 

and Senlis to Paris, which they entered in state 
on Sunday, the 17th October, after vespers. The 
town was encourtinee, or hung with costly stuffs, the 
artisans were dressed each in the costume of their 
own trade, the citizens of the town in costumes like 
each other, the Lombards who lived in the city all 
wore long parti-coloured silk robes, and on their 
heads tall, pointed hats, parti-coloured like their 
dresses. "And they followed after each other as was 
ordered, some on horseback and some on foot, and 
before them went those playing music, to meet the 
King, who entered Paris with great joy." J 

The court remained at Paris till the feast of St. 
Martin in the winter, the time being spent partly in 
festivities and partly in business connected with 
parliament. On the accession of a new King all the 
judicial officers had to be re-invested 2 or they were 
desappointes ; a word which became obsolete in 
French, was adopted by the English, and from them 
has been re-adopted by the French, but with a 
different signification. 

" In 1352, on Monday the vigil of the Conception," 
says the Monk of Saint Denis, " the King gave the 
duchy of Normandy to Monseigneur Charles, his 
eldest son, Dauphin de Vienne et Comte de Poitiers, 
and on the next day, Tuesday, the day of the feast 
of the Conception beforesaid, Monseigneur Charles 
did him homage for it, at the hostel of Maistre Martin 

1 " Grandes Chroniques," t. vi. p. 2. 

2 " Grandes Chroniques," t. vi. p. 2. M. Paulin Paris remarks 1/iat 
the distinction here made between the gens de metier, or workmen, and 
bourgeois, or burghers, sufficiently proves the existence of the latter as 
a class. 



io PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1352 

de Mello, canon of Paris, of the cloister of Notre- 
Dame." 

After which the Prince always called himself Due 
de Normandie, greatly preferring the title to that of 
Dauphin. 

The Dauphin and Dauphine lived chiefly at Vivier- 
en-Brie, a castle in the midst of the woods not far 
from Vincennes. This chateau had been given to the 
father of the Dauphin, now King, when he married 
his mother, Bonne de Luxembourg, by his grand- 
father, Philippe VI. Here the Dauphin afterwards 
founded a chantry or chapel with fourteen ecclesiastics 
to chant the offices and give opportunity to the 
officers who followed the court to perform their 
devotions. 

Jean, who had been at war with the Spaniards, 
considering the constant strife which, with short 
intervals of imperfectly observed truce, was always 
going on between France and England, was naturally 
anxious to conclude a peace with the King of Spain, 
whose subjects were extremely desirous that he should 
marry a French princess. In 1352 a treaty was 
arranged between the two countries, in which this was 
one of the clauses ; and it was decided that one of the 
daughters of the Due de Bourbon should be selected. 
Nieces of the late King of France and sisters of the 
future Queen of that country, one of them would be 
a suitable wife for their young King. With some 
difficulty they induced him to consent, and a Spanish 
embassy was despatched to France to conclude the 
alliance. 

The character of Pedro the Cruel was notorious, 



1352] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE BE BOURBON n 

even for the lawless times in which he lived. His 
early friend the King of Navarre, though by no means 
scrupulous, afterwards abandoned his alliance in 
disgust ; and although at this time he was not more 
than twenty years old, his crimes had already given 
him a reputation of which the Due de Bourbon must 
have known quite well. But the King of France had 
set his heart upon this alliance, and had promised to 
give a dowry of three hundred thousand florins. 
Pedro was to settle various castles, towns, and estates 
upon the Princess, and the Duke, whose eldest 
daughter was to be Queen of France, was well 
contented to see the second Queen of Spain. For it 
was upon the Princess Blanche that the choice had 
fallen. As long as one of his girls wore the crown of 
Spain, the Duke did not care which it might be. He 
introduced the ambassador into the room where they 
all were, so that he might choose. 1 And as Blanche, 
the eldest next to the Dauphine of France, seemed to 
him the most beautiful, he fixed upon her ; and the 
marriage took place during the summer of that year. 

Various entries appear among the accounts of the 
royal expenses for splendid presents and rich dresses 
purchased " for the marriage of her Majesty the 
Queen of Spain." Blanche, then about fourteen or 
fifteen years old, went to Valladolid to meet her 
husband. She is said by contemporary historians to 
have been beautiful, gentle, and attractive, notwith- 
standing which her fate was one of the most tragic 
that ever befel a woman sacrificed to political expedi- 
ency. The destinies of the French princesses who 

1 Mariana, " Espana." 



12 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1352 

have married Kings of Spain have always seemed 
tinged with melancholy and gloom. The intolerable 
rigour of that etiquette which reduced the lives of the 
Spanish queens to a dignified slavery, the cruelty of 
the national amusements, the jealous tyranny and 
bigotry of many of the kings, must surely have made 
these young girls look back with regret and longing 
to the gay court and " plaisant pays de France." Even 
when, as in other cases, the King, however bigoted, 
morose, or relentless in general, was really fond of his 
wife, the life of a Queen of Spain can scarcely have 
been a very cheerful one. 

But Blanche de Bourbon was more than usually 
unfortunate. Pedro, who came to the throne before 
he was sixteen, began by putting to death various 
Spanish nobles and gentlemen, and also Eleanor de 
Guzman, his late father's mistress, by whom that King 
had had several sons, and for whom the Queen and 
her son, the present King, had been slighted and 
neglected. He also murdered two or three of his 
natural brothers, and it was by the hand of one of 
those who escaped from his power that he met the 
due reward of his crimes. 

The Queen-mother had urged Pedro to revenge her 
wrongs and his own upon Eleanor de Guzman ; but 
when he began not only to imitate but far to surpass 
the faults of his father, by taking a Jewess named 
Maria de Padilla for his mistress, deserting his young 
wife three days after their marriage and keeping her 
a prisoner, his mother offered the most strenuous 
opposition to his conduct and warmly espoused the 
cause of the young Queen, her daughter-in-law. It 



1355] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 13 

was of no avail, however. Blanche was doomed to 
wear out her youth in captivity, in one Spanish castle 
after another, while Pedro carried on intrigues with 
various women, but remained chiefly under the influ- 
ence of Maria de Padilla. 

The cause of this iniquity has never been certainly 
known. Whether Pedro, having allowed himself to 
be persuaded into this marriage against his will, 
afterwards regretted it and took this way of reveng- 
ing himself; whether he was, as it has been said 
actuated by an insane and perfectly groundless 
jealousy of his younger brother Don Federico, one 
of the sons of Eleanor de Guzman, whom he had 
sent to meet Blanche, and whom in a furious rage he 
stabbed to the heart ; or whether it was simply 
owing to the baneful influence of his Jewish mistress, 
must remain doubtful. But the story of Blanche de 
Bourbon will always be considered one of the most 
pathetic tragedies which history records. 

Her sisters were more fortunate. Bonne, the third 
daughter of the Due de Bourbon, who had been 
married when almost a baby to the younger son of 
the Due de Brabant and had shortly afterwards 
become a widow, was married in 1355 to Amadeo 
Vl.j.Comte de Savoie, then about twenty-two years 
old. He had been betrothed to Jeanne de Bourgogne 
sister of the last Capetien Duke, Philippe de Navarre 
and then to Jeanne de Bourbon, now Dauphine 
elder sister of Bonne. At ten years old he had 
succeeded his father, Aimon, 1 brother of that Comte 
de Savoie who married Blanche de Bourgogne and 

1 Morery, "Grand dictionnaire historiquej" 1699. 



14 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1356 

left no heirs male. Amadeo VI. was one of the 
greatest princes of his day, both as warrior and 
statesman. Bonne de Bourbon, Comtesse de Savoie, 
was, says an ancient writer, " an ornament to her cen- 
tury, and her goodness caused her to be admired on 
all occasions." The wedding was celebrated at Paris 
in August, and the young Countess set off for Savoy, 
where she reigned for many years in prosperity and 
honour. Her life was chequered with many sorrows 
and also beset by many difficulties, which she sur- 
mounted with courage and capacity. As Regent of 
Savoy during the latter part of her life, she was 
held in high esteem. She died in the Chateau de 
Macon in 1402. 

In September, 1356, came the disastrous battle of 
Poitiers. To Jeanne, as to everybody else in France, 
that must have been a time of fearful anxiety and 
suspense. Those nearest and dearest to her were 
with the army ; and although the sight of the gallant 
host that followed the King in such splendid array 
to meet the enemy might well have filled the hearts 
of those they left behind with pride and confidence, 
there was still the remembrance of the time when 
Paris had waited in breathless expectation for news 
of Philippe de Valois and his chivalrous army while 
those who were not prisoners or scattered over the 
land lay dead on the field of Crecy. 

And when tidings came of a defeat more terrible 
than the former — of the fall of the oriflamme, of the 
capture of the King and his youngest son by an 
enemy so inferior in numbers, Jeanne also heard of 
her father's death on the field of battle. 



1356] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 15 

Pierre, Due de Bourbon, had died like a brave 
soldier by the side of the King, whom he shielded 
from the blows aimed at him. But he had disre- 
garded the commands of the Church, issued at the 
persuasion of his creditors, that he should pay his 
debts, and was therefore considered as an excom- 
municated person, to whom no one dared give 
Christian burial without permission. 

His son and successor, Louis II., undertook to 
satisfy all claims, and his body was then removed 
from the convent of the Jacobins at Poitiers, where it 
had been carried after the . battle, to that of the 
same religious order at Paris. 

There the Due de Bourbon was buried near his 
father, and his lands and honours passed to his son, 
known to history as " the good Duke, Louis de 
Bourbon." 



CHAPTER II 

1356-1358 

France after the battle of Poitiers — The Jacquerie — The Marche de 
Meaux — The Comte de Foix and the Captal de Buch — Rescue 
of the Dauphine — Vengeance of the nobles. 

THE captivity of the King and the flight of the 
Queen, who took refuge with her two children 
in her son's duchy of Burgundy, placed Charles and 
Jeanne at the head of the court and kingdom. The 
Dauphin, or, as he preferred to call himself, the Due 
de Normandie, assumed the government, and, in con- 
sideration of his youth, a council was appointed to 
assist him. Confusion and dismay had taken posses- 
sion of the country. The three estates were convoked 
to deliberate on the means to be adopted to provide 
the ransom of the King. They sat for a fortnight in 
the hotel of the Freres Mineurs? but Etienne Marcel, 
at the head of a strong party, demanded the redress 
of various grievances, and amongst others the imme- 
diate release of the King of Navarre, then imprisoned 
at Arleux. No conclusion, however, was arrived at ; 

1 " Grandes Chroniques de France," t. vi. p. 35, Paulin Paris. 

16 






1357] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 17 

the estates were dissolved and Charles summoned the 
three estates of the Languedoc, or southern part of 
France, but without much more success. 1 In Decem- 
ber he went to Metz to see his uncle, the son of the 
King of Bohemia, now the Emperor Charles IV., to 
take counsel with him ; leaving his brother Louis 
lieutenant at Paris in his place. 

Charles IV. had been brought up in the court of 
Philippe de Valois ; his sister, Bonne, had been the 
first wife of Jean, and he regarded the Valois family 
with strong affection. But he was too much like 
them to be of any use as an adviser, although he is 
said to have reproached his nephew with having, at 
this time of general distress, ordered for himself a 
new and splendid crown of gold. He, and probably 
the Duchesse de Normandie, spent Christmas with 
their uncle amidst a succession of fetes, and returned 
to Paris towards the end of January to find the dis- 
content of the people increased ; which was not sur- 
prising, for there had been a still further depreciation 
of the coin of the realm ; the seigneurs and knights 
who had been taken prisoners at Poitiers were return- 
ing in crowds to collect their ransoms, which were 
enormously heavy, and as the Jews and Lombards had 
been banished they could not borrow money on usury 
from 'them, as they might otherwise have done, so that 
there was no way of getting it but to wring it out of 
the peasants. As there was scarcely a family that 
had not at least one member a prisoner, a system of 
universal extortion was going on. They seized the 

1 The northern part of France was the Langue d'oil, the southern 
the Langue d'oc, so called from the languages spoken there. 



i8 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1357 

property of their vassals and in many cases endea- 
voured, by imprisonment and other cruelty, to force 
them to give up any money they supposed them to 
have concealed, 1 in order that it might be sent to the 
English to buy back those, many of whom they did 
not at all wish to see. 

And they were profoundly irritated by this new 
misfortune. At Crecy, at any rate, they grumbled, 
every one had fought bravely and done their best ; no 
shadow of dishonour had rested on the lilies of 
France. The nobles might have been proud and 
extortionate, but in the hour of danger they did not 
flinch. They lay in heaps on the field of battle, and 
a life of extravagance and dissipation was redeemed 
by a hero's death. 

But now there were suspicions of panic ; there 
had been confusion and mismanagement, and there 
appeared to be an extraordinary number of prisoners. 
The early flight of four out of the five young princes 
also displeased the people, who now began to despise 
the nobles whom hitherto they had only feared and 
hated. And whereas it had formerly been the 
custom for them to serve the King in time of war at 
their own cost and without pay, they had, in the reign 
of Philippe de Valois, begun to demand money while 
in the field, and the sums granted by Philippe had to 
be increased by Jean just at the time when they 
seemed to be least deserved. 

The Hundred Years' War between France and Eng- 
land in the fourteenth century was destructive to the 
prosperity and civilisation which, in spite of many 

1 Sismondi, " Hist. Fiance," t. vii. p. 78. 






1357] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE BE BOURBON iq 

drawbacks, had characterised the thirteenth. There 
could be no liberty while the country was full of 
armed bands led by powerful barons ; agriculture was 
not likely to flourish in such a state of things as has 
been described ; the nobles had no leisure to en- 
courage or interest themselves in literary pursuits 
while their whole lives were spent in warfare. It was 
in the monasteries that learning was chiefly cultivated 
and protected, but many of those great religious 
establishments in the country, though always possess- 
ing some sort of fortification, had been sacked and 
burned by brigands, and others deserted by their 
inhabitants, who no longer found that security which 
the cloister had formerly afforded. The towns had 
become less free, and many of them had lost the 
liberties and privileges accorded them by theCapetiens 
Kings. For the Valois and their followers held the 
traders and unwarlike citizens in the deepest con- 
tempt, and so, as time went on, grew and strengthened 
a bitter hatred of the lower classes for those of gentle 
blood, making men the deadly enemies of their own 
countrymen and causing national calamities far more 
dreadful and disgraceful than any brought about by 
foreign invaders. 

In other countries nobles and people, united in their 
sentiments and aspirations, developed in peaceful and 
harmonious progress to the accomplishment of their 
destinies ; x whilst in France the deplorable separation 
that began in the fourteenth century caused the 
frightful excesses of. the Jacquerie, and having pro- 
duced the Reign of Terror in the days of our great- 

1 " Hist, de la Jacquerie," chap. ii. p. 31. Simeon Luce. 



20 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1358 

grandfathers and the Commune in our own, is still so 
fatal an injury to the power, stability, and prestige of 
the French nation. 

The first child of the Duke and Duchess of 
Normandy was born in September of this year (1357), 
a daughter, named Jeanne. 

It was on the 28th of May, 1358, 1 that the Jacquerie, 
or rising of the peasants, broke out at the little town 
of Saint- Leu, where a number of labourers, joined by 
small tradesmen, artisans, and other persons of the 
low T er classes, assembled in revolt ; and having 
murdered nine gentlemen who happened to be in the 
town, spread themselves over the surrounding country, 
putting to death every man, woman, and child of good 
blood who came in their way, and plundering and 
burning the chateaux. They attacked the villages at 
each end of the forest of Ermenonville, and went to 
the castle of Beaumont-sur-Oise, where the Duchesse 
d' Orleans then was. Warned just in time of the 
approach of the murderers, she fled for her life, was 
out of the castle before they arrived and set it on 
fire, and escaped to Meaux, a town on the Marne, 
where the Duchess of Normandy, the Princess Isabelle 
de France and more than three hundred ladies had 
taken refuge, some having escaped in their night- 
dresses without having had time to dress themselves. 

The rebellion spread rapidly over Picardy, Cham- 
pagne, and the Ile-de-France, and the horrors of it 
have never been equalled in any Christian country. 
It was like a revolt of savages. Hordes of blood- 
thirsty miscreants went about burning castles, 

1 " Grandes Chroniques de France," Paulin Paris, t. vi. p. no. 



1358] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 21 

murdering and torturing men, women, and children. 
None who fell into their power might escape dis- 
honour and death ; any village refusing to join them 
was exposed to their vengeance. 

A band of three thousand Jacques having just 
destroyed the Chateau de Poix, were marching on 
Aumalewhen they met a hundred and twenty Norman 
and Picards men-at-arms, led by Guillaume de 
Picquigny. The latter came forward to parley with 
them but was treacherously slain by one Jean Petit 
Cardaine. His followers fell upon the Jacques, killed 
two thousand of them, and put the remainder to 
flight. The Jacques had cause to repent of this 
murder, for Guillaume de Picquigny was a relation 
of that Jean de Picquigny who delivered the King 
of Navarre from Arleux. And Charles of Navarre, 
who was always ready to protect his friends and 
punish his enemies, took ample vengeance for his 
death. The Chateaux d'Ermenonville belonged to 
Robert de Lorris, who had risen from humble life 
in the village from which he took his name. It is a 
mistaken notion that in the middle ages people could 
not and did not rise from the ranks to the highest 
social position. It was, of course, less frequent than 
in our own days, but in the fourteenth century there 
were hundreds of cases of the kind, both ecclesiastic 
and secular. 1 

Robert de Lorris was one of them. He was a 
great authority on French law, and a favourite both 
of Philippe de Valois and Jean, by whom he had been 
ennobled, made Chamberlain, Vicomte de Montreuil, 

1 Simeon de Luce, " Guerre de cent ans." 



22 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1358 

and Seigneur d'Ernonville. The Jacques besieged, 
took, and plundered the Chateau d'Ermenonville, and 
the chamberlain only saved his own life and those of 
his wife and children by renouncing his nobility and 
declaring himself one of the people. 

The atrocities of the Jacquerie did not, fortunately, 
extend over the whole of France. An attempt was 
made to produce an insurrection at Caen by one 
Pierre de Montfort, who paraded the streets with 
the model of a plough in his hat, proclaiming him- 
self a Jacque, and calling on the people to follow 
him. This, luckily for themselves, they had too 
much sense to do, and Pierre de Montfort was 
soon afterwards slain by three burghers whom he 
had insulted. 1 

The rebellion was worst about Amiens, Compiegne, 
Senlis, Beauvais, and Soissons. The Jacques made 
an attack upon Compiegne, but were repulsed by the 
inhabitants and some nobles who had taken refuge in 
the town. The atrocities committed all over that 
part of the country which was the scene of the revolt 
were too frightful to relate. Hundreds of castles were 
burnt, an immense amount of property destroyed, and 
numbers of men, women, and children tortured, dis- 
honoured, and slain. 

The leader of the Jacques, Guillaume Cale, is said 
to have disapproved of the most horrible of the ex- 
cesses of his followers, but to have been unable to 
restrain them. And Etienne Marcel, with many of 
the bourgeois of his party, encouraged and gave 
assistance to these miscreants, though forbidding the 

1 " Hist, de la Jacquerie," Simeon Luce. 



1358] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 23 

murder of women and children, which of course he 
was powerless to prevent. But a letter of remission 
given subsequently to one Jaquin de Chennevieres 
expressly declares that he had orders from the Prevot 
to burn and destroy the chateaux of Beaumont-sur- 
Oise, Bethemont, Javerny, Montmorency, Enghien. 
Chaton, and all the houses and fortresses of the 
nobles between the Seine and the Oise, from Chaton 
to Beaumont. 1 

And whatever may be our opinion of the policy of 
the celebrated Prevot des Marchands, the murder of 
the Marshals of Normandy and Champagne (which 
had already taken place in the presence of the 
Dauphin) and the assistance he rendered to these 
wretches are stains which neither good intentions 
nor expediency can excuse. 

Jeanne meanwhile, and her companions, were in the 
most awful peril. The smaller bourgeoisie, as a rule, 
hated the gentlemen and sympathised with the 
Jacques. The Mayor of Meaux, Jean Soulas, was 
on their side. The gentlemen with them were few 
in number, the Jacques were coming, and the Due 
de Normandie had, a short time before, taken sudden 
possession of the Marche de Meaux, to the great 
discontent of the inhabitants of that town. The 
Mayor had even had the insolence to say to the 
Comte de Joigny, whom the Duke had sent to 
perform this duty, that if he had known what he 
came for he should never have set foot in the place. 
Informed of this insubordination the Regent had 
reprimanded and fined the Mayor, which only in- 

1 ■'' Hist, de la Jacquerie," Simeon Luce. 



24 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1358 

creased his hostility. However, he and the principal 
officials and burghers had sworn to be faithful to the 
Regent, and not to allow anything to be done to 
injure him, and Charles had left Meaux some time 
in May, leaving his wife and the rest of the ladies 
in the Marche with a much smaller garrison to protect 
them than he would have done had he realised the 
treachery and disloyalty of Soulas and his friends. 
The Due d'Orleans was there, the Begue de Vilaine, 
the Sires de Trocy and Revel, Heron de Mail, 
Philippe d'Aulnoy, Regnaud d'Arcy, and Louis de 
Chambly called Le Borgne. 

Scarcely had the Regent quitted Meaux when dis- 
cord and strife broke out between the inhabitants, 
led by the Mayor, and the nobles shut up in the 
Marche. The exasperated bourgeois laid siege to 
the fortress and sent to Paris to ask for assistance, 
at the same time summoning all the peasants in the 
neighbourhood to join them in attacking the Marche. 1 

They were not slow in answering to the invitation. 
From all parts of the country round they came 
swarming to Meaux. The Prevot des Marchands 
had responded to their appeal by sending Pierre 
Gilles, a grocer of Paris and one of the leaders of 
the insurrection, with a body of armed men from 
Paris to Meaux. He knew the Regent was absent 
and the garrison weak, and thought the Marche 
would fall into their hands by assault. Pierre 
Gilles and his troop burned all the chateaux on 
their way, and forced the inhabitants of the villages 
through which they passed to join them. 

1 " Hist, de la Jacquerie," p. 135, Simeon Luce. 



26 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1358 

The Mayor and burghers threw open the gates, 
and about nine thousand furious ruffians, armed 
with scythes, pitchforks, and knives, rushed into the 
town. 

The towns people received them with open arms, 
supplied them with abundance of food and wine, which 
excited them to still greater ferocity, and joined in the 
tumult of fearful shouts and cries as the bloodthirsty 
savages swarmed through the streets looking up with 
murderous eyes to the towers and walls of the 
Marche. 

Now the Marche de Meaux was on an island 
formed by the Marne, which flowed on one side 
of it, and a canal that went round it, coming out 
of the river on one side of the Marche and going 
back into it on the other. On the side of Meaux 
there was a bridge over the Marne from the Marche 
to the town, and on the opposite side of the Marche 
another bridge, across the canal to the other shore. 
Most fortunately, the Dauphin had recently caused 
the island to be strongly fortified, and his having done 
so now saved his wife and sister from a horrible death. 
All round the Marche were high strong walls and 
towers. Trees could be seen above the parapet 
inside, and the ground rose high in the middle. It 
was a strong place, but they were so few to defend 
it against the furious hordes outside. In it were the 
young Dauphine, the Princess Isabelle de France, 
daughter of the King, then about ten or eleven 
years old ; Blanche de France, Duchesse d'Orleans, 
who had just escaped from Beaumont-sur-Oise ; and, 
as was before said, at least three hundred women, 



1358] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 27 

girls, and children of the noblest families in France. 
The gates were closed, the walls guarded as well as 
could be done with their few defenders, but the 
position grew every moment more alarming. The 
streets were crowded to overflowing with these blood- 
thirsty wretches, and all down them were spread 
tables with bread, meat and wine for their refresh- 
ment. All over the town they were thronging and 
feasting, while their horrible cries and brutal threats 
rose to the ears of the besieged women and children 
who waited in terror and despair, all hope of deliver- 
ance seeming to be at an end. 

The fortress was always attacked from the town 
side, and from this direction, when the Jacques had 
finished feasting, the assault would certainly come. 

But the Marche was fortunately not surrounded by 
the town. On the other side, across the canal, lay 
the open country of Brie. And suddenly a troop of 
men in armour was seen approaching at full speed. 
It was Gaston, Comte de Foix, and Jean de Grailly, 
Captal de Buch, two of the most famous soldiers in 
France, with about sixty lances, who rode under the 
gateway into the beleaguered fortress, and were re- 
ceived with acclamations by those within its walls. 
The troop was a small one, but a few tried soldiers 
under such leaders counted for more than hundreds of 
the rabble outside, and the Dauphine and her com- 
panions must have felt that they were saved. 

Having no particular fighting to do just then, the 
two knights had employed their leisure in an expedi- 
tion against some heathen tribes still to be found in 
Prussia ; and on their way back, passing through 



28 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1358 

Chalons, had heard of what was going on at Meaux 
and of the perilous position of the ladies shut up in 
the Marche. The Comte de Foix was brother-in-law 
of the King of Navarre ; and the Captal de Buch, 
a Gascon gentleman, was a subject and follower of 
King Edward of England. Etienne Marcel, on the 
other hand, was a strong partisan of Charles of 
Navarre. But the project of the bourgeois prevot to 
throw the wives and children of French gentlemen 
into the power of a mob of brutal savages was not 
likely to recommend itself to the two knights, who 
at once turned their horses' heads towards Meaux, 
and pushed on with desperate haste to save the 
Marche before it fell. The white banner still floated 
from its walls, 1 but they were only just in time. 
The Jacques, having done feasting, now ranged them- 
selves in order of battle, and in immense numbers, 
with frightful yells, pressed towards the Marche and 
began the attack. The shrieks of the terrified women 
and children mingled with the tumult outside, 2 but 
Jean de Grailly and Gaston de Foix ordered the 
gate on the side of the town to be thrown open. 
Then, raising the pennon of the Captal and the 
banners of Orleans and Foix, they rushed out and 
fell upon the enemy. Down to the bridge they rode, 
over which was thronging a multitude like ferocious 
wild beasts. But before the charge of the knights 
the Jacques went down in heaps ; those behind them 
hesitated, then drew back and fled before the cavaliers, 
who pursued them with levelled lances and drawn 

1 This is the first time the white banner appears in French history. 

2 " Hist, de la Jacquerie," p. 140. Simeon Luce. 



1358] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 29 

swords through the streets of the town. Several of 
the nobles were killed, amongst others Louis de 
Chambly, called Le Borgne, but thousands of the 
Jacques were slain. Many of the citizens of Meaux 
were killed in the battle that raged all over the city ; 
the rest were carried prisoners to the citadel. Jean 
Soulas, the traitorous mayor, was taken during the 
fighting and hanged when it was over. The nobles 
then set fire to the town, which was burning for a 
fortnight. The royal chateau, with many houses and 
churches, perished in the flames. Froissart says that 
seven thousand Jacques were killed. The inhabitants 
of Meaux, " for their detestable deed," were declared 
guilty of high treason, and the town condemned to 
be and for ever remain uninhabited. The Regent, 
in consideration of the Dean and Chapter of Meaux, 
and at the petition of some other towns who inter- 
ceded with him on behalf of the place, afterwards 
remitted this sentence. But the commune of Meaux 
was suppressed and united to the prevote de Paris. 1 

Jeanne and her companions watched from the 
Marche the victory of their friends and the destruc- 
tion of their enemies, and it must soon have been 
evident to them that their danger was at an end. 
The destruction of the Jacques on that day, June 
9, 1358, arrested the course of the rebellion. The 
nobles scoured the country, putting to death all 
the Jacques they could find. Learning that some 
of them had taken refuge at Sens, they resolved to 
inflict on that city the same punishment as on Meaux, 
and for that purpose a party of them, on the 13th 

1 Simeon de Luce. 



3Q PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1358 

of June, presented themselves at the Paris gate of 
the town, demanding the keys in the name of the 
Regent. But the inhabitants had received notice 
beforehand of what was intended, and had taken 
measures accordingly. Therefore, when the nobles, 
having been admitted, and thinking themselves 
masters of the place, advanced with drawn swords 
and cries of " Ville gagnee! ville prise!" the citizens, 
and even those nobles who belonged to Sens, pushed 
down from the top of the street, which was very steep, 
carts with scythes fastened to the wheels which they 
had prepared for the purpose, while armed men issued 
from the houses, and women threw stones, lime, and 
boiling water from the windows, by which means 
some were killed and the rest escaped out of the city. 

But the defeat at Meaux broke the head of the 
insurrection. From the terror, the slaughter, and the 
discouragement of that day the Jacques never re- 
covered, and the finishing stroke was given by the 
King of Navarre, on whose support some of them 
had been foolish enough to reckon, because of his 
hostility to the King and Dauphin. 

The gentlemen of Normandy and Picardy sent an 
invitation to Charles de Navarre, who was then at 
his castle at Longueville, to be their leader in this 
contest ; he " who was the first gentleman in the 
world." I 

The King of Navarre was ready enough. He 

1 " Sire, vous etes le plus gentilhomme du monde, ne soufifres pas 
que gentillesse soit mise a neant. Si ceste gent qui ce dient Jacques 
durent longuement, et les bonne villes soient de leur aide, ilz mettront 
gentillesse au neant et du tout destruiront " (" Hist. Jacquerie," Simeon 
Luce ; et " Chronique des quatre premiers Valois"). 



1358] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 31 

placed himself at the head of four hundred lances, 
and by the time he came up with the Jacques, near 
Clermont, his troop had increased to a thousand men, 
many of whom were English. The Jacques were 
put to flight with great slaughter, and their leader, 
Guillaume Cale, put to death. Some say that he 
was arrested by treachery ; at any rate Charles of 
Navarre declared that the Jacques were furious wild 
beasts, with whom it was not possible to treat or 
make any terms. The Regent had been in arms ever 
since the insurrection had broken out, and the attack 
upon his wife rendered it more hateful to him. 

The Jacquerie was soon at an end ; it only lasted 
about a month, and when once the nobles had re- 
covered from the surprise and shock of its outbreak, it 
was put down and punished with tremendous severity. 
Pierre Gilles was beheaded at the Halles on the 4th 
of August. He appears to have been a man of 
considerable wealth, and in the inventory of his 
merchandise was a large quantity of sugar in loaves 
and in powder from Cairo, or, as it was called, 
Babylon. It came chiefly from Egypt at that time. 

That part of Champagne, Isle-de-France, and other 
districts which had been the scene of these atrocities 
of the Jacques, was so devastated with fire and sword 
that for some time it remained almost without in- 
habitants. 1 The towns and villages which had taken 
part in the Jacquerie were heavily fined, as may be 
seen by the records in the " Tresor des Chartes." 
Chavanges, for instance, was fined a thousand gold 
florins. 2 

1 Sismondi. 2 A gold florin was worth twenty francs. 



32 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1358 

A note, tome vi. p. 117, of the " Grandes Chro- 
niques de France," M. Paulin Paris, makes the fol- 
lowing remarks and gives the following quotation 
respecting the complicity of Etienne Marcel in the 
Jacquerie, and the fallacious hopes in which the 
rebels indulged with regard to the King of Na- 
varre : — 

" C'est que ces Marseillais du XIV me siecle avoient 
ete bien reellement souleves par les anarchistes de 
Paris. Je demande la permission de citer a l'appui 
de cette opinion la precieuse chronique manuscrite 
conservee sous le No. 530, Supplement francois. A 
l'occasion de l'expedition du roi de Navarre contre 
les Jacques, on y lit : En ce temps assembla le roy de 
Navarre grans gens et ala vers Clermont-en-Beau- 
voisie, et en tuerent plus de huit cens et fist copper 
la teste a leur cappitaine qui se vouloit tenir pour roy ; 
et dient aucuns que les Jacques s'attendoient que le 
roy de Navarre leur deust aidier, pour l'alliance, qu'il 
avoit au prevost des marchans, par lequel prevost la 
Jacquerie s'esmeut, si comme on dit." 



CHAPTER III 
1358-1361 

Return of Charles and Jeanne to Paris — Marriage of Catherine de 
Bourbon to the Comte de Harcourt — The Celestins — The Treaty 
of Bretigny- -Marriage of Isabelle de France to Giovanni Visconti 
— Return of the King — Death of the children of the Dauphine — 
The plague — The Duchy of Burgundy. 

THE Duchess of Normandy and her friends 
were now free, after the horrible experience 
of the last few days. The enemy was destroyed, the 
revolt quelled, and the town, at which they could 
hardly have looked without shuddering, was half 
burnt down and deserted ; for the inhabitants, who 
had so lately been raging and clamouring for their 
blood, were either slain or carried away prisoners. 
The Duchesse d'Orleans, after this second narrow 
escape within a few days, set off on her journey 
towards Paris, which was still in a disturbed state, 
and in the neighbourhood of which her mother, 
Queen Jeanne d'Evreux, was busy trying, as she re- 
peatedly did, to patch up a peace between the Duke 
of Normandy and the King of Navarre, who, although 
he hated and put down the Jacquerie, was a friend 

4 33 



34 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1358 

and ally of Etienne Marcel and had a powerful party 
at Paris. 

The Duchess of Normandy stayed on for a short 
time in the fortress of Meaux, waiting for her hus- 
band to join her. 

On the 19th of July peace was concluded by the 
efforts of Queen Jeanne d'Evreux, assisted by the 
young Queen of Navarre, sister of the Duke of 
Normandy, the Archbishop of Beauvais, and two 
or three others. The interview took place at Charen- 
ton on the Seine, where the Dauphin caused a bridge 
of boats to be constructed for the occasion. 

He then joined the Dauphine at Meaux. The 
danger in which Jeanne had been and the insult in- 
volved in the attack upon her had naturally enraged 
him against every one in any way connected with 
the revolt ; but various letters of remission to those 
concerned in it, on several occasions granted to 
persons forced against their will to take part in it, 
were signed by him about this time. Meanwhile, 
reports of the diminishing strength of Etienne Marcel 
and his party kept arriving from Paris ; with invita- 
tions to Charles to return and take possession of the 
capital. 

At last came tidings of the death of the prevot, 
struck down at night as he was in the act of changing 
the guard and placing the keys of Paris in the hands 
of the King of Navarre. His adherents were im- 
mediately scattered, imprisoned, or slain, and the 
royalists sent urgent entreaties to the Duke of 
Normandy, who lost no time in setting off for Paris, 
which he entered on the evening of Thursday, 



1358] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 35 

August 2nd, amidst the acclamations of the people 
and the illuminations and rejoicings prepared to 
welcome him. 

The next day he sent a messenger to Jeanne with 
the news of this successful state of affairs, directing 
her to join him at Paris with the ladies of her court. 
When she arrived there she found the Due de 
Normandie waiting for her at the Louvre, where they 
took up their abode and where for some time they 
lived in peace. The King was still a prisoner, and 
the Regent, freed from the constant enmity of 
Etienne Marcel, endeavoured to repair the mis- 
fortunes that had happened and to get the affairs 
of the State somewhat into order. The truce with 
England was soon to expire, but he made another 
treaty of peace with the King of Navarre, and con- 
trived to win to his side the young Comte de 
Harcourt, Jean III., who, since the execution of his 
father by the King of France in the affair of Rouen, 
had been fighting against that country in the ranks 
of England and Navarre. 

The Dauphin, however, succeeded in making friends 
with him, and although the precedent of Charles of 
Navarre was not very encouraging, he tried to 
attach the Comte de Harcourt to his interests by 
marrying him to Catherine, one of the Dauphine's 
sisters. The wedding took place in October, at the 
Louvre. 1 

The favourite monastic order of Charles and 
Jeanne appears to have been that of the Celestins. 

1 The " Grandes Chroniques de France" place this marriage in 
October, 1359. 



36 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1358 

It will be remembered that Saint Louis brought from 
the Holy Land some Carmelites, sometimes called 
Barres because of the striped robes or mantles they 
used at first to wear ; and that in the reign of 
Philippe-le-Long they sold their monastery, or 
rather the ground on which it stood, to one Jacques 
Marcel, a citizen of Paris, reserving to themselves all 
building materials, carved stones, columns, woodwork, 
and tombs, with the bones of those buried therein ; 
all to be transported by midsummer day to the 
new place which had been chosen for the larger 
and more convenient monastery which they now 
required. 

But before they left their old home, the Carmelites, 
assisted by an agent of the Bishop, carefully pointed 
out to the new owner those parts which were conse- 
crated ground, and Jacques Marcel, " who was a good 
man, and feared God," built two chapels upon them, 
just at the entrance to the garden, and appointed and 
endowed two chaplains to serve them. 

Jacques Marcel was buried in a tomb of black marble 
in one of these chapels, and the place went to his son, 
Gamier Marcel, in 1320. 

Now there was a young man named Robert de 
Jussi, who had been a novice in the Celestin monastery 
of St. Pierre, in the forest of Cuisse, not far from 
Compiegne. But after he had been there a year, his 
parents by their entreaties and importunity persuaded 
him to renounce the monastic life and return to the 
world. Philippe de Valois, who was then king, took 
a fancy to him, attracted by his talents, good sense, 
and piety. He chose him, while still very young, to 



1358] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 37 

be one of his secretaries ; and so well did he serve the 
King and so great was the reputation he acquired at 
court for his judgment and conduct, that he remained 
Secretary of State and one of the most distinguished 
members of Council under Philippe de Valois, Jean, 
and Charles V., Dauphin. But his worldly success 
and prosperity did not make him forget the convent 
in the forest, the holy lessons and examples of the 
good fathers, and the peaceful days he had spent with 
them. He spoke of them to the Dauphin, who sent 
for some of them to come from their monastery to 
Paris in 1352, when Gamier Marcel presented them 
with the site of the old Carmelite monastery which 
had been bought by his father ; where they established 
themselves. Charles both as Dauphin and King 
showed unvarying kindness and affection to this 
brotherhood, visiting the convent frequently, and 
conversing familiarly with the brethren. In this 
year (1358), seeing that they were in need of help, 
he granted them a purse of money from the Chancery 
of France, to be given yearly, and as a proof of his 
friendship carried the first to them himself, and 
distributed its contents with his own hands. He 
afterwards built them a church, and conferred upon 
them many other benefits. 

A curious law made at this time, which in our own 
days many of us would gladly see re-established, 
was, that if a tailor or dressmaker spoilt a dress, 
either by cutting the material badly or by ignorance, 
so that by their fault it did not fit, they should pay 
to the owner of the said garment whatever was the 
value of it, and besides that should pay a fine of five 



38 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1359 

solz, of which three should go to the King and two to 
the confraternity. 1 

Also that if any one made a doublet to sell, and 
made it of bad or common thread or stuff, the doublet 
should be burnt, and the maker should pay six solz to 
the King and four to the confraternity. 2 

" On Sunday, the nineteenth day of May," says the 
chronicler, " was made a convocation at Paris of the 
church, the nobles, and the fortified towns,3 by letters 
of monseigneur the regent, to hear a certain treaty of 
peace which had been proposed in England between 
the Kings of France and of England. Which treaty 
had been brought to the regent by Monseigneur 
Guillaume de Meleun, Archbishop of Sens, by the 
Comte de Tanquarville, brother of the said Arch- 
bishop, by the Comte de Dampmartin, and by 
Messire Arnoul d'Odenham, Marshal of France, all 
prisoners of the English. On which day came few 
people, partly because they had not been told soon 
enough of the said convocation, and also because the 
roads were infested by the English and Navarrais, 

1 The guild or confraternity of tailors and dressmakers of Paris. 

" Item. Que quiconque sera tailleur de robes a Paris, et il mestaille 
une robe ou ung garnement par mal ordonner le drap au tailler, 
ou par l'ignorance de sa taille, le meffait et dommaige sera veu et regarde 
par ledis maistres ; et s'ilz rapportent que la robe ou garnement soit 
empire par mestaille ou par la coulpa du tailleur, le tailleur rendra 
le dommaige a celui a qui la robe ou le garnement sera ; et y paiera cinq 
solz d'amende, dont les trois seront au roy, et les deux a la dicte con- 
frairie." 

2 " Item. Que nul ne mectent lay ne estouppes en doublet qu'il face 
pour vendre ; et qui fera le contraire ; le doublet sera ars, et paiera six 
solz d'amende au roy, et quatre solz a la confrairie. 

" Estouppe etait probablement chanvre, filasse, lin." 

3 Bonne vzlies, i.e., fortified towns. 



1359] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 39 

who held fortresses on every road by which one could 
go to Paris ; and also because of the robbers who held 
French fortresses and were not much better than the 
English. And the whole kingdom was covered 
{seme) with them, so that one could not go about the 
country. The said English and Navarrais held the 
castle of Meleun, the island and all the town on the 
side towards Bievre ; and the part towards Brie was 
French. Item, they held la Ferte-Soubs-Juerre, 
Oysseri, Nogent-l'Artaut, and at least five or six 
fortresses on the river Marne ; in Brie they held 
Becoisel and La Houssoie. In Mucien they held 
Juilly, Creil, and several other places on the river 
Oyse ; on and about the Seine, Poissy, Meullent, 
Mante, Rais ; and more than a hundred others in 
different parts, as well in Picardie as elsewhere. 
Which day of the nineteenth was continually put off 
in the expectation of more people until the following 
Saturday, the twenty-fifth day of the said month. 

" On the which Saturday the said regent was at 
the palace on the marble staircase in the court ; and 
there, in presence of all the people, he caused the 
treaty to be read by Maistre Guillaume des Dormares, 
advocate of the King in parliament, by the which 
treaty it appeared that the King of England asked 
for the duchy of Normandy, the duchy of Guienne, 
the city and castle of Saintes, with all the diocese and 
country ; the cities of Agen, Tarbes, Pierregort, 
Limoges, Caours, with all the diocese and country ; 
the counties of Bigorre, Poitiers, Anjou, and Maine ; 
the city and castle of Tours, and all the diocese and 
country of Touraine ; the counties of Boulogne, 



40 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1359 

Guines, and Pontieu ; the town of Monstrueil-sur- 
Mer and all the chastellenies ; the town of Calais and 
all the land of Merq, without the King of England 
being, on account of the said lands, in any way sub- 
ject either to the present King of France or to his 
successors, but only a neighbour. And besides, the 
said King of England desired to have the homage 
and sovereignty of the duchy of Brittany for ever, the 
same as the other lands before mentioned. 

" Besi-des this he asked for four millions of escus de 
Philippe, with all the lands that he held in the 
kingdom of France, upon such condition that the 
King of France should make recompense of other 
lands to all those who had anything on the said lands, 
by alienation made by the Kings of France, or by 
those who claimed any rights transmitted by them, 
since the said lands and countries belonged to the 
Kings of France. 

" And also required the said English to be put into 
possession of the towns and castles of Rouen, Caen, 
Vernon, Pont-de-1'Arche, Goulet, Gisors, Moliniaux, 
Arques, Gaillart, Vire, Boulogne, Monstrueil-sur-Mer, 
and la Rochelle; a hundred thousand pounds sterling 
and ten seigneurs for hostages on the first of August 
following. And this done, he would return the King 
of France to his kingdom and power, but in all 
manner a loyal prisoner until the above-named things 
were accomplished. 

" Which treaty was very displeasing to the people 
of France (fu moult deplaisanf). And after they had 
deliberated, they replied to the said regent that the 
said treaty was neither bearable nor possible (nestoit 



1360] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 41 

passable ne faisable) ; and therefore they ordered good 
war to be made upon the English. 

"Item. Sunday, the second day of June following, 
it was granted to the regent that the nobles should 
serve him for a month at their own expense, each 
according to his estate, without counting coming nor 
going. And that the impositions ordered should be 
paid by the fortified towns. The clergy offered to 
pay the said impositions ; the town of Paris offered 
six hundred swords, three hundred archers, and a 
thousand brigands. And it was ordered that all those 
who were there should return to their towns, because 
they could not grant anything without speaking to 
their towns, and that they should send their answers 
on the Monday after Trinity. And afterwards several 
towns sent their answer : but because the flat country 
was all spoiled by the English and Navarrais enemies, 
and also by the garrisons of the French fortresses, the 
said fortified towns {bonnes villes) could not fulfil the 
number of twelve thousand swords {glaives) which 
had been granted him by the Langue d'oc." * 

The Duke and Duchess of Normandy had still no 
son, but another daughter, the Princess Bonne, had 
been born to them. 

The war with England had gone on all the winter, 
but in the spring of 1360 new proposals of peace 
were made, and this time accepted. By the treaty 
signed at Bretigny, May 8, 1360, King Edward 
renounced his claim to the crown of France, and 
also to the duchy of Normandy and all the inheritance 
of the Plantagenets north of the Loire. But the King 

1 " Grandes Chroniques de France." 



42 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1360 

of France ceded to him, no longer as fiefs, but in 
absolute sovereignty, Poitou, Aquitaine, with all the 
arriere-jiefs appertaining to it from the Loire to the 
Pyrenees, and a ransom of three millions of ecus d'or, 
to be paid in sums of four hundred thousand ecus 
annually. 

Six English knights were sent to Paris by King 
Edward, in presence of whom the Dauphin was to 
swear to the treaty in the most solemn manner. 
Therefore, when Mass was sung, after the Agnus Dei, 
Charles, who was then in the Hotel de Sens, came out 
of his oratory and took the oath before the altar. 
Then, from a window of the Hotel de Sens, peace 
was proclaimed by a sergeant-at-arms, " the regent 
went to Notre-Dame de Paris to return thanks for 
the said peace, and then they chanted the Te Deum, 
and rang the bells very solemnly." T 

King Edward is said to have been induced to make 
peace by a frightful storm which overtook his army 
near Chartres, killing six thousand horses and a 
thousand cavaliers, amongst whom were the heirs 
of Warwick and Morley. Thinking that the anger 
of God was roused against him because of the 
misery and devastation he was causing, he vowed to 
put an end to the war. 

All over the country the news spread that peace 
was signed, and in spite of the hard conditions there 
was a general burst of rejoicing. In the villages and 
towns church bells rang, thanksgivings were offered, 
and festivities of all kinds went on everywhere ; 
except in some of the towns and provinces trans- 

1 " Grandes Chroniques de France." 



1360] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 43 

ferred to England, who declared that they might 
yield homage to the English with their lips, but in 
their hearts never. 

To the Princess Isabelle de France the return of 
the King can have been no subject of congratulation. 
She was his third daughter, her sisters being the 
Queen of Navarre and Marie, afterwards Duchesse de 
Bar. The fourth sister had taken the veil at Poissy, 
and died the year after in early childhood (1352). 

In the deplorable state of the country, it was most 
difficult to obtain the money required to pay the first 
instalment of the King's ransom. Galeazzo Visconti, 
Vicomte et Prince de Milan, 1 *- offered to give 600,000 
florins in exchange for the Princess Isabelle, whom he 
was anxious to marry to his son, Giovanni. The 
Visconti were amongst the richest and most powerful 
of the princes of Italy. They ruled over Milan and 
the greater part of Lombardy. The two brothers, 
Galeazzo and Bernabo, chiefs of the family, were 
stained with countless crimes and cruelties. Of 
Giovanni nothing could be said, as he was only 
ten years old. The Princess Isabelle was not quite 
twelve, but she seems to have had her own ideas, and 
she hated this Italian marriage. It was no use. The 
Visconti were eager for the alliance of the King of 
France, and willing to pay for the honour. King 
Jean wanted the money, and had been ready to sign 
the utterly ruinous treaty at first proposed and sacrifice 
France to gain his own liberty ; so that he was not 
likely to hesitate. The French people did not like 
the marriage, and there was a murmuring all over the 

1 Sainte-Marthe. 



44 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1360 

country against the King for selling his own blood. 
But the preparations were hurried on, and the Princess 
was sent to Italy before the end of that summer, with 
a splendid cortege. 

Villani gives an account of the magnificence of the 
entertainments given in her honour at the palaces of 
Galeazzo and Bernabo in Milan. He says she arrived 
in regal state, splendidly dressed, and received the 
homage of all before her marriage, but after that, not- 
withstanding her royal blood, she did reverence to 
Galeazzo and Bernabo and their wives, 1 the former of 
whom was a Princess of Savoy. 2 

The splendid fetes went on for three days and nights 
in the stately beautiful Italian palaces, which so far 
surpass those of other lands. Every day there were 
banquets, where at the chief table dined a- thousand 
guests, princes, ambassadors, nobles and represen- 
tatives of the citizens. There were jousts in the 
cortile or courtyard of the palace of Galeazzo, ladies 
looking on from the windows and /oggie.3 The last 
fete was given by Bernabo. 

Meanwhile the King of France, whose freedom had 
been bought in exchange for his daughter, had been 
conducted by the Black Prince to Calais, in the castle 
of which a great supper was given in his honour 

1 " . . . ma il drappo sopra capo non sofferse, e cosi stette infino che 
fu sposata ; e da quel punto dinnanzi posto in oltre la reale dignita e 
nobilita di sangue, reverenza fece a messer Galeazzo e amesser Barnabo 
e alle donne loro." 

2 Sainte-Marthe. 

3 Loggie are arcaded galleries, terraces or balconies generally to be 
seen in Italian palaces or houses of any antiquity. The vulgar and 
tasteless buildings that now disfigure modern Italy are frequently with- 
out them. 



1360] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 45 

by King Edward, whose sons, with the Duke of 
Lancaster and the chief barons of England, served 
bareheaded at the table, and after two days spent at 
Boulogne in religious ceremonies and festivities King 
Edward embarked for England, and Jean prepared to 
return to Paris. 

Besides the public misfortunes of this time, a great 
sorrow befel the Duke and Duchess of Normandy in 
the death of their two little daughters, Jeanne and 
Bonne, whom their mother had dedicated to God if 
the King returned. The historian says God ap- 
parently accepted the gift. 1 The eldest was about 
three years old. The former died October 21st at 
the abbey of St. Antoine des Champs, at Paris, where 
she had been placed in order to be dedicated to 
religion, and her little sister rather less than three 
weeks after her. They were both buried in the church 
of that abbey, where their effigies in white marble 
were placed, lying upon their black marble tomb. 
This grief was all the more bitter to Charles and Jeanne 
as these were their only children. The chronicler 
remarks of this event : " Item, on Thursday, the 
nth November, were buried the two daughters of 
the Duke of Normandy, at St. Antoine, near Paris, 
and was present the said Duke at the funeral, very 
troubled, for he had no more children. 2 Among those 
chosen to go to England with King Edward were 
Louis Due d'Anjou and Jean Due de Berry, second 

1 De Mezeray. 

2 Bonne de France died November 7, 1360. "Item, le jeudi 12 
Novembre furent enterrees les deux filles du due de Normandie a Saint 
Antoine pres de Paris, et fu present le dit due a l'enterrage moult 
courroucie qui plus n'avait d'enfants." 



46 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1361 

and third sons of the King, to whom their father had 
given these two duchies by way of compensation ; 
Philippe, Due d'Orleans, the King's brother ; Louis, 
Due de Bourbon ; Pierre d'Alencon and Jean, brother 
to the Comte d'Etampes, " tons ties fleurs-de-lis" says 
the monk of St. Denis. 

And in December, Jean made his entry into Paris 
with a pomp and parade rather unsuitable to the 
occasion and the manner of his return, and again 
began the usual succession of court festivities and 
amusements that formed the occupation of the Valois 
princes and those who surrounded them. As to the 
peasants, as soon as the peace of Bretigny was signed, 
they began to take courage and to work in the fields 
again. After a long cold winter the weather seemed 
to have cleared up, and they hoped for a good 
harvest, though the destruction of most of the barns 
and farm buildings had made it difficult to find 
places to store it in. The plague, too, was again 
increasing, not spreading regularly from south to 
north as it had done in 1348, but appearing irregularly 
here and there in places which had escaped before, 
especially in hilly and mountainous districts where 
the inhabitants had hoped they were safe from it. It 
attacked first the people who were already weakened 
from bad food and other hardships ; next those who 
had been suffering, as so many were, from agitation, 
anxiety or sorrow ; and then it began to attack those 
who were free from any such disadvantages. It spread 
all about, with the same symptoms as before and 
attended with the same disastrous consequences. 
Every one was, of course, dreadfully afraid of catching 



1361] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 47 

it, so that people shut themselves up, refusing to have 
communication with each other ; there was no one to 
keep order or to do any work, and the great com- 
panies of brigands and disbanded soldiers were all 
over the country. There were fifteen thousand of 
them near Lyon alone. The King of England sent 
orders to those under his allegiance to desist from 
their depredations, but they would not obey him. 
The plague was very bad all the spring ; seventeen 
thousand people died of it at Avignon, it was raging 
in London and was also at Paris, although not quite 
so violent there. 

The Queen and her daughter, the Princess of 
Burgundy, had died of it in 1360, and now her son 
Philippe, the last Capetien Duke, fell a victim to the 
same scourge. 

On hearing of the death of his step-son, Jean at 
once claimed the duchy. As has been already 
shown, the heirs male of Duke Robert II. were now 
extinct ; the Comtesse de Savoie, his eldest daughter, 
had no heirs either ; of the Duchess de Bar there could 
be no question, as she had not only renounced her 
claims on her marriage, but was the youngest daughter. 
It rested between the King of France, son of the 
third daughter, Jeanne, and the King of Navarre, 
grandson of the second daughter, Marguerite. To 
most people the claim of Charles of Navarre must 
appear incontestably the right one ; but it is true that 
instances in favour of Jean's pretensions were not 
uncommon in those days. At any rate he seized 
the duchy, and on the 23rd of December entered 
Dijon ; took the oath, before the high altar of Saint 



48 PICUURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1361 

Benigne in presence of the chief officials of Burgundy, 
to observe the constitution and privileges of that 
state ; and was careful to rest his claim to the 
succession, not on its having lapsed to the crown, 
but on the right of his mother, Jeanne de Bourgogne, 
speaking much of his grandfather, Duke Robert, 
whose heir he declared himself to be and whose laws 
and system of government he promised to follow. 

The great inheritance of Burgundy was now broken 
up, for Artois and the County Palatine went to 
Marguerite, Countess dowager of Flanders, second 
daughter of Philippe-le-Long, Boulogne and Auvergne 
to the next heir of Guillaume XIII., while Flanders 
and Hainault remained the inheritance of the child 
Marguerite, widow of Philippe de Rouvre. 







CHAPTER IV 



1364-136 



King Jean returns to England — His death — Coronation of Charles V. 
and Jeanne de Bourbon — Murder of Blanche, Queen of Spain — 
The Celestine Church — The Abbey of Chelles — The King's library 
— Magnificence of the Court — Birth and death of the second 
Princess Jeanne. 



F v OUR years had passed away : years a little less 
unfortunate for France, as although Jean was 
still upon the throne and passed his time in travelling 
about his kingdom in search of amusement instead of 
giving serious attention to the affairs of the State, he 
allowed himself to be much influenced by the 
Dauphin. He ceased to meddle with the value of 
the coinage, he recalled the Jews and forbade private 
wars among the nobles. There was still peace 
between France and England, although English 
subjects were frequently to be found in the ranks 
of the Navarrais who were continually at war with 
the French. 

5 49 



5o PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1364 

The country was still in a disturbed state, and 
infested by troops of brigands who were always 
attacking the villages and chateaux. The Seigneur 
de Murs, a little castle near Corbeil, was outside his 
gates one day, when a party of drovers came up and 
complained that his servants had taken some pigs of 
theirs. The seigneur invited them to come inside 
the gates to see if they could identify any, but no 
sooner were they over the drawbridge than they 
threw off their disguise, blew a horn, drew their 
swords, and being joined by their companions who 
rushed out of a wood close by, they seized the 
seigneur, his wife and children, and taking possession 
of the castle, they made it for some time a centre 
from which they pillaged the whole countryside. 

By the death of the Queen, Jeanne, Duchesse de 
Normandie, was the head of the court and of society. 
She was extremely popular, and her beauty the 
admiration of every one. Froissart in his chronicles 
always speaks of her as " la belle Duchesse" or " la 
bonne Duchesse!' And now the time was drawing- 
near for her to ascend the throne. 

The Due d'Anjou, second son of the King, had 
broken his parole and returned to France. Jean, 
horrified at such a breach of honour and of the laws 
of chivalry, declared his resolution to return to 
England. Of the true reasons for this journey, 
which was strongly opposed by his ministers and 
friends, many different explanations have been given. 
Modern historians have in many cases adopted the 
well-known story of his reply that if truth and honour 
were banished from the earth, they ought still to find 



1364] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 51 

refuge on the lips and in the hearts of kings. 
M. Dulaure, 1 however, observes that this speech, 
which was that of Marcus Aurelius, does not belong 
to the fourteenth century, and has been ascribed by 
Paradin to Francois L, and by some other writer to 
the Emperor Charles V. And neither the writers of 
the " Grandes Chroniques de France," De Nangis, nor 
Froissart, who were the most voluminous chroniclers 
of that time, make any mention of it. De Nangis 
says that he went to arrange for the ransom of his 
third son, the Due de Berry, and his brother, the Due 
d'Orleans. Froissart declares that he wished to see 
the King and Queen of England and to make excuses 
for the conduct of his second son. Others have 
attributed his persisting in this project to his love 
for some English lady, probably the Countess of 
Salisbury. M. Paulin Paris, in a note to his edition of 
the " Grandes Chroniques de France," agrees with the 
explanation of De Nangis, and treats the idea of the 
English love affair as ridiculous and unlikely at 
the age of the King of France, who was forty-five. 
But this does not seem an unanswerable objection, 
considering the character and habits of Jean ; 
especially if we look at the history of certain other 
kings at a much more advanced age — Henry IV. 
for instance. 

But whatever might be his reasons, Jean left France 
according to the " Grandes Chroniques," on Tuesday 
evening, January 3, 1364, embarking at Boulogne ; 
and arrived at Dover on Thursday, whence after two 
or three days he pursued his way to London, was 

1 Dulaure, " Hist. Paris." 



52 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1364 

met by a great company of illustrious persons and 
lavishly entertained by King Edward and the English 
royal family, who assigned the Savoy Palace for his 
dwelling, where, after about three months passed in 
festivities and diversions of various kinds, he was 
taken ill and died. 

The Dauphin was at Vernon, besieging his step- 
grandmother, Blanche de Navarre, when the news 
came of his father's death. Towards her as well as 
his eldest sister Jeanne, Queen of Navarre, and his 
aunt, Jeanne d'Evreux, Charles was often placed in 
an attitude of hostility in which there was no personal 
animosity, but which arose from their relationship to 
and affection for his arch-enemy, the King of Navarre. 
Charles had no wish at all to injure or frighten his 
sister, of whom he was very fond, or his aunt, for 
whom he had the greatest respect, or his step-grand- 
mother, who was also his cousin, and with whom he 
seems to have been on friendly terms when there was 
no particular quarrel going on about Charles of 
Navarre. Nevertheless this was not the first time he 
had been at open war with these ladies, or engaged 
in besieging one of their castles. He hastened to 
come to an arrangement with Queen Blanche, and 
leaving Bertrand du Guesclin in command of the 
troops that were actively opposing the Navarrais, he 
hastened to Paris, where the body of the late King 
was sent from England. " After the funeral at Saint- 
Denis," says the chronicler, " Charles went out into a 
meadow of the cloister of the said church, and there, 
leaning against a fig tree in the said meadow, he 
received the homage of several peers and barons ; 



1364] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 53 

after which he went to dinner, and spent that day and 
the next at Saint-Denis. And the following Thursday, 
the 9th May, departed the said King Charles to go to 
his coronation at Reims, which was to be on the day 
of the Trinity following." 

Nothing could be more solemn, stately, and impos- 
ing than the ceremonial used at the coronation of the 
Kings and Queens of France ; and it must have made 
a strong impression upon the religious and cultivated 
minds of Charles and Jeanne. By the regulations 
made to a great extent by Louis le Jeune in 1179, 
and afterwards added to and confirmed by St. Louis, 
the King and Queen, on their arrival at Reims, the 
city consecrated by the baptism of the first Christian 
King of France and the coronation of so many 
generations of his successors, were met by a pro- 
cession of the canons and other ecclesiastics of the 
cathedral, churches, and convents of the town. On 
Saturday, the day before the coronation, after com- 
plines, the church was committed to the care of 
guards appointed by the King, with those belonging 
there. Then the King, in the silence of the night, 
came to the church and remained alone in prayer and 
watching. 

When matins rang, at the dawning of the day, the 
King's guards were marshalled to keep the great 
entrance, the other doors being closed. Then matins 
were chanted, and after them prime. And then the 
King arrived and the coronation began. 

On the spot where Clovis was baptised stands the 
church of St. Remy, second only to the cathedral in 
beauty and grandeur. In it was always kept the 



54 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1364 

ampoulle of holy oil with which the Kings of France 
were annointed, and to which was attached the 
ancient legend of its having miraculously appeared, 
being brought down from heaven by a white dove at 
the baptism of Clovis. This tradition was then firmly 
believed, and the ampoulle was brought in solemn 
procession by the monks of St. Remy with cross and 
candles, carried with great reverence by the Abbot of 
that monastery under a silk canopy borne by four of 
the brotherhood. The Archbishop of Reims, with the 
bishops and canons, came to the door, when the Arch- 
bishop received it from the hand of the Abbot with a 
promise to restore it, and carried it to the altar 
accompanied by the Abbot and four monks. It was 
afterwards taken back to St. Remy. 

Two thrones were placed in the middle of the 
cathedral, joining the choir. Around the highest, 
which was that of the King, were ranged the peers of 
France, and all those whose rank and office entitled 
them to such places. 

The Archbishop girded on his sword, charging him 
to keep the army of God, and defend the Church and 
kingdom committed to him, with the blessing of God, 
by the virtue of the Holy Spirit and the help of Jesus 
Christ the invincible Conqueror. Then with prayers 
and benediction he was anointed with oil from the 
ampoulle, the ring placed on his finger, the sceptre 
and hand or rod of justice in his hands, and finally 
the Archbishop took the crown from the altar and 
placed it on his head, supported by the peers of France 
during the prayers and solemn benediction. When 
the King was crowned and seated on his throne, the 



1364] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE BE BOURBON 55 

Queen arrived at the cathedral. She prostrated her- 
self before the altar and was raised from her knees by 
the bishops. After some prayers she was anointed, 
but with a different oil ; a smaller sceptre, and a rod 
of justice like the King's were given to her, and the 
ring placed on her finger with these words, " Take 
the ring of faith, the sign of the Holy Trinity by 
which thou mayest escape all heresy and malice, and 
by the virtue given to thee call heathen nations to the 
knowledge of the truth." 

And never could the benediction of the Archbishop 
have been more fully re-echoed in the hearts of all 
around him than when he placed the crown on the 
head of Jeanne de Bourbon, saying, " Take the crown 
of glory, honour, and felicity, that thou mayest shine 
with splendour and be crowned with joy immortal." 

The Queen was conducted to her throne by the 
barons who supported the crown, and surrounded by 
the ladies of highest rank ; after which the King and 
Queen kneeling at the altar, received the Communion 
from the hands of the Archbishop, who at the con- 
clusion of Mass took off their crowns and put smaller 
ones on their heads, and they proceeded to the 
palace with a drawn sword carried before them. 1 

They left Reims after their coronation, and on the 
28th of May, Tuesday, entered Paris. The King 
made his entry at one o'clock, went to the church of 
Notre-Dame and then to the palace, and " about the 
hour of nine " the Queen's procession arrived at the 
gate. Her beauty and grace were the admiration of 
the multitudes that thronged to see her as she rode 

1 " Hist, du Ceremonial Francais,' ; Godefroy. 



56 



PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1364 



into Paris, the crown on her head, her dress covered 
with jewels and the trappings of her horse em- 
broidered with gold. Philippe, Due de Touraine, the 
King's favourite brother, walked by her side holding 
the bridle of her horse. With her were the Princess 
Marie de France, afterwards Duchesse de Bar, the 
Duchesse d'Anjou and the Duchesse d'Orleans, by 
whose horses walked princes of the blood royal, the 
ladies of her court with a brilliant 
cortege of nobles, chevaliers, and 
guards, winding through the 
crowded, decorated streets to the 
Palais de la Cite. 

Just after the King and Queen 
had entered Paris there arrived 
in triumph from the battlefield 
Bertrand du Guesclin. He had 
won a victory at Cocherel, and 
had brought not only the news 
of his success but the famous 
Captal de Buch, whom he had 
taken prisoner, to greet the King 
on the opening of his reign. 

There was a great banquet next 
day at the palace, at which the Captal, who was 
placed on parole, dined with the King. 1 And much 
honour was shown to Sir Bertrand du Guesclin. 
After dinner there were jousts in the courtyard of 
the palace, at which the King of Cyprus and many 
of the greatest nobles jousted. 

On Friday, the last day of May, the King invested 

1 Soon afterwards released. 




FRENCH NOBLE, FOUR- 
TEENTH CENTURY. 



1364] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 57 

his youngest brother, the Due de Touraine, with the 
duchy of Burgundy. It had been promised to him 
by his father in remembrance of the day when, as a 
mere child, he stood alone by his side in the battle 
of Poitiers. He afterwards married the heiress of 
Flanders and Hainault. 

The Duchess-dowager, mother of Jeanne, lived a 
good deal at court, and her brother Louis, Due de 
Bourbon, was a great favourite with the King, who 
extended his affection for Jeanne to every one belong- 
ing to her. Louis de Bourbon was one of the best 
and noblest characters of his century. When a 
hostage in England, he made himself so beloved that 
he was allowed to go about wherever he chose, and 
even to return to France on parole. His estates were 
managed during his absence by his mother. 

The youngest sister of the Queen, Marie de 
Bourbon, was a nun at Poissy, and for her also both 
Jeanne and Charles had much affection. 

But a constant source of anxiety and grief to them 
all had been the unfortunate marriage of their sister 
Blanche, Queen of Spain, who lingered in captivity 
in one castle after another in spite of the indignation 
and remonstrances of the Spanish people, the French 
King, and the royal family her relations. At last 
came the news that she had been poisoned by 
Pedro el Cruel, and her death excited the horror and 
execration of France and Spain against her murderer. 
Blanche seems to have passed these years in saintly 
resignation to the will of God. Her brother the Due 
de Bourbon and her brother-in-law the King of 
France did not suffer her death to remain unavenged. 



58 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1364 

Charles V. declared war upon Pedro, and sent 
French troops to Spain commanded by Bertrand du 
Guesclin, the Begue de Vilaine, and other officers, 
and after a short time he paid for his crimes with the 
loss of his throne and his life. 

One cannot help being struck by the extraordinary 
discrepancy in the accounts given of the Kings of 
France by ancient and modern writers. According 
to the former, they all appear to have been models 
of every virtue and talent under the sun ; while if 
one reads the descriptions of some of the latter, 
especially of those who are republican in principles, 
one finds that, with the exception perhaps of Saint 
Louis, no King of France ever had any good qualities 
at all but courage, and that, while all the misfortunes 
that happened were entirely his fault, any success he 
might have in the management of his affairs and the 
government of his kingdom was either the result of 
accident or was due to somebody else. 

Charles V., however, may be said to have done 
considerably more to deserve his name " le Sage " 
than Jean did to earn that of " le Bon." In all 
respects different from his father and grandfather, 
he set himself to try to repair the ruin and distress 
in which the kingdom was plunged. He was, as 
Sismondi remarks, the first modern King of France. 
His effigy on the seals is seated in a chair, not 
mounted on horseback. It is characteristic of his 
life and habits. His government was the personal 
government of an intelligent, prudent, and honest 
King, occupied with the internal and external affairs 
of the State. 1 He found himself surrounded with 

1 Guizot, " Hist. France," t. ii. p. 179. 



1366] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 59 

dangers and difficulties. The country was so de- 
populated by plague and famine that in many parts 
the inhabitants were reduced to two-thirds and even 
one-third of their numbers in the beginning of the 
reign of his grandfather. The neighbouring countries 
were involved in civil wars and disturbances, into 
which it was difficult for France to escape being 
drawn. Italy was full of discord. Spain was divided 
between the factions of Pedro el Cruel 'and his brother, 
Enrique de Trastamare, who had risen against that 
tyrant to avenge the murders of his mother and 
brothers. 

Charles found no help in his own family. His 
eldest sister was married to his enemy the King of 
Navarre, to whom she was devoted. The Due de 
Bar, who had just married Marie, the second sister, 
was likely to be more trouble than assistance ; the 
Visconti had paid his father a large sum of money 
for the marriage of Isabelle, but were too far off to 
have anything to do with affairs in France. Of his 
brothers, the two elder ones had all the faults and 
scarcely any of the good qualities of the Valois. 
They were arrogant, rapacious, violent and cruel. 
The Duke of Burgundy was the best of them. 

Charles had always been delicate, and people said 
he had been poisoned when he was young by the 
King of Navarre. It was one of those absurd accusa- 
tions heaped upon Charles of Navarre by his enemies. 
He could have had no object in poisoning the 
Dauphin, for if he had died the crown would have 
passed, not to him, but to the Due d'Anjou, and there 
were plenty of other princes of the house of Valois 



60 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1367 

whose claims would have come before his. The Dukes 
of Berry and Orleans, the Alencon princes, and even 
the Due de Bourbon, all stood before him in the line 
of succession. 1 But it is probable that the King 
firmly believed that he had been poisoned by his 
brother-in-law, and therefore was not likely to regard 
him with very friendly feelings. 

Jeanne nursed and consoled Charles in his frequent 
illnesses, and shared and sympathised with all his 
tastes. 2 Both were devoted to art and literature ; 
Charles V. was the best educated and most learned 
prince of the fourteenth century. Almost the only 
existing letter written entirely by the hand of a 
Valois King of the direct line is by him. It is 
preserved at the Depot Central.3 Jeanne's love of 
books caused her to interest herself in the writings 
and translations of the time ; she was also fond of 
poetry. Many Greek and Latin authors were now 
translated into French, and by the desire of the King 
and Queen, Nicolas d'Oresme, Bishop of Lisieux, 
made a translation of the whole of the Bible, which 
Charles took with him wherever he went, being in 
the habit of reading it all through every year. It 
was in two volumes. 

On the 24th March, 1367, Charles laid the founda- 
tion stone of the new church of the Celestins. Besides 
the church he gave them costly presents, amongst 
others a great cross of silver gilt. The Queen 
presented an image of the Virgin, also of silver gilt. 

1 " Tresor des Chartes," No. 386, p. 221. 

2 Dreux du Radier, " Reines et Regentes." 

3 There is also a letter of his son Charles VI. 



1367] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 61 

The church was finished in 1370, and consecrated 
by the Archbishop of Sens. Charles lavished upon 
this church the most precious objects of art ; chalices, 
missals, and ornaments of all descriptions ; and 
especially magnificent were two chapels entirely hung 
with cloth of gold, one being covered with fleurs-de-lis, 
the other with suns and stars. The benefits and 
favours conferred by the King and Queen upon this 
convent were so great as to cause them to be con- 
sidered as founders of it, and their statues were 
accordingly placed on the portal of the church. 
They spent 5,000 francs in building a dormitory, 
refectory, chapter-house and cloister. 1 

The hotel St. Paul, where Charles and Jeanne 
afterwards lived, was most conveniently near the 
Celestine convent. The courtiers, following their 
example, were always giving presents to this brother- 
hood. The King's secretaries founded a confraternity 
in their church, and all belonged to it. The King 
exempted this order from all public contributions, 
even such as were generally paid by the clergy. 
They continued for several generations to enjoy such 
great favour and protection from the royal family 
that they appear to have rather presumed upon their 
privileges, for in time it grew into a byword, and 
in speaking of a conceited, arrogant person the 
exclamation " Voila un fier Celestin " became a 
common figure of speech. 

The Celestins, as time went on, became celebrated 
for the excellence of their cookery ; there were 
especially certain omelettes for which they were 

1 De Sauval, "Sablier." 



62 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1367 

much distinguished. But this was long after the 
time we are now considering. 

One of the most fashionable convents for women 
was that of Chelles, near Paris. It had been founded 
by Clotilde, wife of Clovis I., and much enlarged by 
Ste. Bathilde, who dreamed that she saw a ladder 
raised before the altar of Our Lady, which touched 
Heaven, and by which she mounted in a cortege of 
angels. In consequence of this, the Abbey of 
Chelles bore as arms, a ladder between two fleurs-de- 
lis, those orders founded by Kings and Queens of 
France having the right to bear the lilies in their arms. 
The Abbesses of Chelles bore the greatest names 
in France, among them were Giselle, sister ol 
Charlemagne, one of his daughters and numbers of 
widows, sisters, and daughters of kings. 

But after a time this rich and distinguished estab- 
lishment became also very worldly. Some monks 
built a monastery close to it, and the King had a 
palace on the other side of its walls. Scandals arose. 
The nuns got up late, went out hunting and con- 
ducted themselves much more after the fashion of 
the court than the cloister. They w T ere on excellent 
terms with the brotherhood of the neighbouring 
monastery, who were mostly poor cadets of noble 
families. They gave parties and made confitures for 
these monks ; and when Louis le Begue carried off a 
nun of sixteen years old over the wall of his palace, 
his example was so much followed by his courtiers 
that nearly fifty nuns had eloped in a few months. 
The Bishop of Paris and Abbot of St. Victor went 
to preach and try to carry out reforms ; but on their 



1367] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 63 

way back were attacked in the forest and the Abbot 
killed. 1 After Robert II. (996) the palace fell into 
ruins ; but the evil reputation of the sisterhood went 
on long after. In 1358 they fled to Paris, but 
returned to their convent, which was besieged by the 
English. They escaped again with their Abbess, Alix 
le Passy, and were afterwards collected and reorganised 
by Jehanne la Foret. 

King Jean, who was not by any means a literary 
character, had only possessed twenty books, but 
Charles delighted in collecting them and arranged 
his library in a tower in the Louvre, which was called 
La Tour de la Librairie. 2 He collected nine hundred 
volumes, which in those days, before printing was 
used, made a considerable library. The catalogue of 
this library was made in 1378 by order of the King, 
and still exists.3 It was in three rooms, occupying 
three floors of the tower, the windows of which 
had iron bars and a trellis of ironwork ; with 
glass painted. The ceilings were of cypress wood 
and the walls panelled with richly carved oak. 
Thirty candles and a silver lamp burned all night in 
each room so that they might be available for study 
night and day. 

In a manuscript, "Bibliotheque du Roy," No. 
7609, are found the names of the different instru- 
ments of music of the fourteenth century, among 
which can be recognised several that are still in 
use. Here are the names of some of the books 
contained in the library : — 

1 " Environs de Paris," Nodier. - Sauval, " Antiquitez de Paris." 
3 " Bibliotheque du Roy," Felibien. 



64 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1367 

" Dit de la Rose." 

" Le Livre de la Mutation de Fortune." 

" Le chemin de long estude " (translated from 
the Romance into French). 

" La Cite des Dames." 

" Le Livre des trois vertus." 

" Le Livre des faits d'Armes et de Chevalrie divise 
en quatres parties." 

" Le Traite de la Paix." 

" Le Corps de Policie." 

Charles V. and Jeanne possessed many beautiful 
books on parchment with exquisite miniatures and 
illustrations of the fourteenth century, books of 
hours and books of psalms, one of which had 
belonged to Saint Louis. 

They commissioned Raoul de Presle to translate 
the " City of God," by St. Augustine, and gave him 
4,000 francs a year for doing it. 1 

Besides books and manuscripts, they had an im- 
mense collection of magnificent objects of art. 
Since the days of Louis, the taste for splendour and 
costty decoration had spread in all classes. Every 
now and then laws were made to check them, but as 
the nobles would not obey them and could not be 
forced to do so, they only acted as restraints on the 
bourgeoisie. And so the most important of all in- 
dustrial arts had come to be that of the goldsmith. 

It seems extraordinary, considering the impover- 
ished condition of the finances and the dreadful state 
of affairs in general when they came to the throne, 
that the King and Queen should have been able to 

1 Felibien. 



1367] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 65 

spend the sums they did upon buildings, books, 
treasures of art, and all cultivated and intellectual 
pursuits. But their wise and good management was 
so successful in altering the disastrous state of things 
caused by the follies and misfortunes of their pre- 
decessors, that they were able to spend money with 
royal magnificence upon the aims and objects they 
preferred. 

Jeanne was clear-headed and sensible, and the 
economy and order she introduced into the royal 
household was considered an excellent example. 
She sold a quantity of costly plate to help pay the 
troops of Du Guesclin in 1369, and so contributed to 
the successful result of the war with England ; after 
which they began to collect again. 

But their daily life was surrounded by magnifi- 
cence, as may be seen by a list made later on by 
order of the King, in which appear all sorts of 
precious and costly things. Statuettes of gold and 
silver, exquisite carvings in ivory, quantities of gold 
dishes, plates, candlesticks, basins, salt-cellars, drink- 
ing cups, knives and spoons ; very few forks — there 
were only three at Vincennes, of which one belonged 
to the Queen. Jewels and precious stones in pro- 
fusion, sets of hangings for rooms — that is to say 
portieres ; carpets, hangings, canopies, curtains for win- 
dows and beds, some of silk, others cloth of gold or 
velvet ; one is mentioned as being entirely of cloth of 
gold, with a cross of red velvet embroidered with 
several coats of arms ; another of green with stripes 
of gold. Spanish leather, richly embroidered cushions, 
costly tents to put over the Queen's bath, called 

6 



66 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1367 

espreniers. One of these is described as being made 
of white satin, embroidered with roses and fleurs-de- 
lis ; others were blazoned with the arms of France and 
Navarre. 1 Every now and then some curious little 
incident seems to give a touch of life and interest to 
this old list, such as a little gold barrel and chain 
with the arms of Burgundy, which the King always 
had with him and which had belonged to his grand- 
mother, Jeanne de Bourgogne; the gold serpents on 
the salt-cellars with their tongues in the salt, which 
were supposed to reveal the presence of any poison 
that might have been put in ; a crown a bassinet set 
with jewels, probably belonging to King Jean, who 
was in the habit of wearing a crown on his helmet in 
battle, regardless of the additional danger of pro- 
claiming his rank ; and in the midst of this catalogue 
of splendour " item, an old mattress all torn and the 
pillow the same, which had belonged to King Jean." 
Two banners of France covered with fleurs-de-lis 
and bordered with pearls, to drive away the flies 
when the King was at table ; dog-collars of velvet 
and silver, green game bags embroidered with pearls, 
inkstands, purses, whips, leather lanterns. The con- 
tents are given of some coffers or boxes the King 
always took about with him and of which he kept 
the keys. Amongst the rare cameos, jewels, gold 
chaplets, &c, was the holy stone to make women have 
children, and another stone which cured the gout. 

Different things are mentioned as having belonged 
to Charlemagne and St, Louis. There were also 
gold basins to wash in, and gold vases to put the 

1 Douet d'Arcq. 



1367] CHARLES V. AND -JEANNE DE BOURBON 67 



remains of repasts to give to the poor. Bas-reliefs 
of gold, generally of sacred subjects, and all the 
things belonging to the chapels, such as chalices, 
crucifixes, missals, crosses, statues, hangings, reli- 
quaries, paternosters, &c, most costly and beautiful. 
An immense number of crowns and coronets seem 
to have belonged to the King, Queen, and Princesses, 
and jewelled girdles, clasps, and 
rings are also enumerated among 
their possessions. 

Charles and Jeanne at the begin- 
ning of their reign lived chiefly at 
the Louvre and at Vincennes, where 
he ordered four of the inhabitants 
of the village of Montreuil to watch 
against poachers every night in the 
forest. At Vincennes had been 
born on June 7, 1366, "entre tierce et 
midi" another daughter to the King 
and Queen. She was christened four 
days afterwards in the chapel there 
and named Jeanne, her god-parents 
being the Due de Berry, the two 
Queens dowager, Jeanne d'Evreux 
and Blanche de Navarre, and Marguerite, Countess 
of Flanders and Artois. But the same ill-luck 
seemed to pursue the children of Charles and 
Jeanne as had followed those of Philippe de Valois 
and Jeanne de Bourgogne ; for this little princess 
also died the following December, and was buried 
at St. Denis, leaving the King and Queen again 
childless. 




LADY OF THE 
COURT. 



CHAPTER V 
i 368-1 373 

Comet — Meeting of Parliament — Marriage of the Queen's sister — The 
Louvre and its gardens — Christine de Pisan — The Dauphin — His 
christening — War — French victories — Prosperity of France — Hotel 
St. Paul — Birth of Marie de France — Capture and liberation ot 
the Queen's mother — Bonne, Comtesse de Savoie — Birth of 
Louis and Isabelle de France — Louis, Due de Bourbon. 

A FRENCH historian assures us that in this, the 
year before the war began again, " the presage 
of it was seen in the heavens, that is to say in the 
Holy Week a comet between north and west with a 
long hairy tail stretching towards the east and red 
rays like a pyramid of fire." J 

The monks went preaching about in all the French 
provinces for the rights of Charles V. ; in the English 
ones for Edward III. 

" In this year the King and Queen sat in parlia- 
ment on the vigil of the Ascension," and Jeanne gave 
her advice and opinion, by special desire of the King, 
upon the important affairs then discussed. Whenever 

1 " Grandes Chroniques de France." 
68 



1368] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 69 

he was ill the secret despatches were all taken to her, 
and her seal carried the same authority as his own. 1 

He had detached Armand d'Albret from the 
English cause and married him to Marguerite, one 
of the Queen's sisters, to the indignation of the 
Black Prince, who spoke " moult rudement " about it. 2 
As Armand d'Albret had before seized the castle 
of La Motte d'Epineul, it was made part of the dowry 
of the young princess, who often appears in descrip- 
tions of festivities at her sister's court. 

In 1 37 1 she was godmother, with the Princess 
Jeanne, daughter of Philippe VI., to her niece, 
Marie de France. Her husband and son were 
killed at Azincourt, and, like her sister Bonne, 
Comtesse de Savoie, she undertook the guardian- 
ship of her grandson, Charles d'Albret, for whom in 
1416 she obtained letters from Charles VI. admitting 
him to do homage for his lands though under fifteen 
years old. 

Hitherto every King of France had held his court 
either in the palais de la Cite or the Louvre. Those 
who only know the Louvre as the magnificent 
Renaissance palace of Francois I. and Henri II., 
can perhaps hardly picture it as the most romantic 
royal castle that ever existed. The buildings formed 
an oblong court, with round towers at the angles and 
in the middle of the sides, while nearly in the centre 
of the court stood a massive round keep, and to the 
south and east were well defended gateways. All 
this was moated, and on the side towards the river 

1 De Mezeray, " Hist. France." 

2 " Archives Nat. de Bourbon, " No. 1,409. 



7o PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1368 

were other walls and towers. 1 It was outside Paris 
until Charles included it within the walls. He 
altered the internal arrangements, heightening the 
rooms and also the towers, so that it was more 
beautiful than ever. It was he who built the long 
line of towers all along the river. They were 
of all sizes and shapes, and each had a captain 
of its own. The names of many of them are 
known from the registers in the Chambre des 
Comptes. The Tour du Fer-de-chevai, Tour de 
l'Orgueil, du Bois, de l'Ecluse, Jean de l'Etang, de 
l'Armoirie, de la Taillerie, de la grande Chapelle, la 
petite Chapelle, Grosse Tour du Louvre, Tour de la 
Librairie, and many others. The Grosse Tour, built 
by Philippe Auguste, was enormously thick and 
strong, and had a dungeon. The great portal was 
on the river, flanked with towers ; the second 
entrance was narrow, with two towers, on which 
were sculptured the figures of Charles V. and 
Jeanne de Bourbon. 

The rooms were large, low, with panels of wood ; 
the windows narrow, barred with iron and filled with 
glass, on which were painted the arms of the person 
to whom the apartment belonged — King, Queen, 
enfants de France, princes of the blood, &c. 

The apartment of the Queen was below that of the 
King, and exactly the same in size and disposition. 
Sauval remarks that the view of the river from the 
windows was very beautiful. The apartments of the 
King, the Queen, and each of their children had a 
chapel and gallery attached to it. In the apartment 

1 " Paris in its Old and Present Times," p. 157. Hamerton. 



1368] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 71 

afterwards given to the Dauphin there was a clock, 
doubtless made by Jean de Vic, who about that time 
made one for the King, which was placed in the 
Tour du Palais and has been supposed to be the 
only one in Paris under Charles V. 1 

The great garden of the Louvre was very old : it 
had treilles or trellised walks from one end to the 
other, hedges, arbours, and grass. It was planted 
with roses and other flowers, herbs and vegetables. 
There were two smaller ones, called the King's and 
Queen's garden. 2 

The great garden went up to what is now the 
Rue St. Honore, and was bounded by the city walls. 
To any one who is fond of flowers and gardening, it 
is most interesting to read the old bills and accounts 
preserved in different registers, and to see something 
of what these ancient gardens were like. 

" Compte 1362, of Pierre Culdoe, lieutenant, and 
the noble Messire Jean de Damille, chevalier, 
chastelain of the castle of the Louvre, of the 
receipts, &c, for certain works which have been 
done in the gardens of the said Louvre, & la plaisance 
du Roy, nostre Seigneur, beginning in the month of 
May ' 362,' and finishing in the month of March 
CCCLXIII." 

Then follow many interesting accounts, of which, 
however, it is impossible to give more than a few 
specimens. For instance, sums of money are paid 
to— 

" Perin Durant, gardener, for having got many 

1 "Antiquitez de Paris,'' Sauval. 

2 " Paris a Travers les Ages," Fourmier et Hoffbauer. 



72 

good herbs and planted the same in the said gardens 
of the Louvre in the month of March, 1362." 

" To Pierre Hubert, trellis-maker, for having 
fastened up the hedges round the said gardens in 
the month of February, and done up about half the 
said hedges which the wind had blown down ; for 
wood, osier, and trouble." z 

" To Jean Baril, for having made a heap of earth 
(mound) with a summer-house of trellised wood on the 
top, with the arms of the King, Queen and nos 
seigneurs de France upon it, and having made a 
drawbridge to it in the month of March, 1362, for 
wood, osier, and trouble." 

" To Jean Caillon and GefTroy de Febon, gardeners, 
for their trouble in having planted sage, hyssop, 
lavender, strawberries, and several other herbs in 
the gardens of the said Louvre, for having dug the 
garden all round, put in herbs and seeds, renewed 
all the paths and grass plots (preaux) and taken 
away the weeds and rubbish." 

" To Jean Dudoy, gardener, for having . . . taken 
away all the weeds, stones, and rubbish, and made 
several beds of sage, hyssop, lavender, balsam, straw- 
berries, and violets, and planted bulbs of lilies, double 
red rose trees, and many other good herbs which 
he got." 

" To Sevestre Vallerin, the work of his arm (la 
peine de bras) for his trouble in having weeded the 
paths which go among the preaux (courts or grass 
plots), and the beds in which are the rose trees, 

1 " Comptes du vieux Louvre. Topographie historique du vieux 
Paris." A. Berty et Tisserand. 



1368] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE BE BOURBON 73 

strawberries, violets, sage, hyssop, lavender, balsam, 
parsley, and other good herbs : and also for having 
watered four summer-houses and a great square 
room to make the plants grow {pour faire venir les 



" To Etienne de la Groye, gardener, for having 
made in the said gardens certain trellises, arbours, 
and hedges all along the walls, inside." x 

We hear of some one being paid also for planting 
a pear tree, and lettuce is mentioned amongst the 
vegetables that mingled with the flowers growing in 
the quaint old garden. It must have been a strange 
place, with its stiff beds of roses, lavender, and sweet 
herbs, its formal paths and summer-houses, its long 
trellised walks under the huge, ancient walls, 
shadowed by a forest of frowning towers. 

As the Queen's apartments in the south wing of 
the chateau would not contain all the rooms 
required, some more were allotted to her looking 
west ; and some to the King, who, out of considera- 
tion for the Queen, had given her the first floor and 
taken the second for himself. One of these was the 
bedroom of the King, and containing amongst other 
furniture one of two great beds, "pour le corps du 
Roy" ' furnished by the courtepointier, Richard des 
Ourmes, at the price of twenty francs of gold each. 

The King's cabinet or study (estude) was lighted 
by one large window with painted glass, and four 
small ones, and hung with black drap de Caen. It 
had a high chair, a bench, a form {escabelle) and 

1 " Comptes du vieux Louvre. Topographie historique du vieux 
Paris." 



74 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1368 

two bureaux. Green drapery was thrown over the 
furniture, and a high chimney with mantelpiece of 
stone warmed the room, which was most likely 
between his oratory and library. His chapel, or 
oratory, was vaulted, and heated by a stove in the 
winter. 1 

The furniture in the Louvre consisted of enormous 
cupboards, buffets, and heavy chairs or faudesteuils, 
all richly carved, illuminated, and sometimes 
decorated with gold and gems ; benches, forms, 
settles, dossiers or seats with backs, covered with 
velvet, satin, or cloth of gold ; an estendait, or kind 
of sofa is mentioned as being in one or two of the 
rooms ; the walls were hung with tapestry, and there 
were plenty of carpets and cushions, some em- 
broidered with pearls. Spanish leather was thrown 
on the floor in summer. 2 

The house linen seems to have been kept in chests 
in the bedrooms : a number of white silk sheets are 
described as being in a square box with two covers 
in the large window in the King's room ; and later in 
his palace called Beaute, in a gilded chest (coffre) in 
the room where the King slept, there were towels, 
tablecloths, and sheets of toile de Reims ; also richly 
embroidered pillows, one of which had on it a knight, 
a lady, two fountains and two lions. There were 
couvertoers, or w r arm coverings for winter, and 
couvertures, or sheets of ornamental stuffs thrown 
over the beds in the day. One of these is men- 
tioned as being of ermine, fastened to an old sheet 

1 " Paris a Travers les Ages," Fourmier et Hoffbauer. 

2 Documents inedits, 3 me serie : Archeologie. 



1368] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 75 

of marramas, of which the King had caused a breadth 
to be cut off to make a chasuble. 

The chimneys were of course high and open, with 
great fires on dogs (chenets) on the hearth. There 
exist bills for three chenets de fer for the Queen's and 
other rooms, and for tongs, shovels, and tirtifeux 
Also for bellows, " five new bellows carved and 
ornamented with gold." 

There are also bills from one Marie Lall emande, 
for blue and white stuff for the window curtains of 
the King's and Queen's bedchambers, and for 
eighteen feather beds with pillows ; and from Jean 
de Verdelay and Colin de la Baste fcr six tables of 
walnut wood and a pair of trestles for the Queen's 
rooms, and for the King's large dining-room an oak 
bench with columns (un banc de chesne a coulombes) 
twenty feet long for the King's larger table, with the 
dais of the same length and three feet wide, and a 
drecoir with a step round it in the same room (sale)* 
" et enfonse le viez banc Sainct Louis, ct une marche 
autour." 

The King was anxious to attract to his court 
any literary or talented persons that could be 
found, and being himself, like every one else of his 
day, a believer in astrology, he gladly welcomed a 
learned man and celebrated astrologer named Thomas 
de Pisan, a native of Bologna, who, delighted at his 
reception, sent for his wife and daughter and pre- 
sented them at the Louvre, 1 368. Charles took the 
whole family under his protection. He gave an 
income to the astrologer, and his daughter, the 

1 Documents inedits, 3 me serie : Archeologie. 



76 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1368 

celebrated Christine de Pisan, was brought up at 
court as a demoiselle de qualite. Her father, seeing 
her talents, bestowed much care on her education. 
She was taught Latin and French, and not allowed 
to forget her native Italian ; she also studied science 
and literature. At fifteen she was married to 
Etienne du Chastel, a young man of good birth and 
education, but small fortune, who was made one of 
the King's secretaries. She became a distinguished 
writer, and is best known for her life of Charles V., 
written, after his death, at the command of the Duke 
of Burgundy. Her style is exceedingly pompous and 
fulsome, but some interesting details can be gained 
from her writings, and if they were not crammed with 
tiresome, prosy moral sentiments, and absurd flattery 
of the King, they might have been much more 
interesting and valuable still. After the death of 
Charles V., the prosperity of the family waned : her 
father lost most of his pay and died old and poor ; 
her husband died 1402, and one of her sons died 
young. Her daughter became a nun at Poissy. 

On the 1 6th of April, 1368, Lionel, Duke of Clarence 
second son of the King of England, passed through 
Paris on his way to Italy to marry the daughter of 
Galeazzo Visconti. The Dukes of Berry and Bur- 
gundy went to meet him at St. Denis and conducted 
him to the Louvre, where his room was " moult Men 
paree et aourneer He dined and supped that day 
with the King, and the next day dined with the Queen 
" en I'ostel du roy pres de Saint- Pol, Id oh elle estoit lors 
logiee" et y fist-en tres grant fester * After dinner, 

1 " Grandes Chroniques de France," t. vi. p. 251. 



1368] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 77 

when they had played and danced, the Princes 
returned to the Louvre, where Lionel stayed during 
the few days he was at Paris, being entertained by the 
different members of the French royal family. Lionel 
of England was a handsome and courageous Flemish 
giant, mild-tempered and amiable, possessing no great 
vigour of intellect. 1 Through his daughter married to 
Edmund Mortimer the line of York derived their 
claim to the English crown. 

The King had a painted barge like a floating house, 
richly decorated inside and outside, in which he used 
to go up and down the Seine from the Louvre to his 
new and favourite palace of St. Paul, 2 which he had 
built chiefly while he was still regent. 

Charles and Jeanne had now been married eighteen 
years, and had no children. They had never had a 
son, and their three daughters had all died, to their 
great grief. But on the 3rd of December, 1368, "on the 
first day of the Advent of our Lord, at the third hour 
after midnight, the Queen Jehanne, wife of King 
Charles, then King of France, had her first son in the 
ostel near St. Pol ; and the moon was in the sign of 
the Virgin in the second phase of the said sign, and 
the moon was twenty-three days old. For the which 
birth the. King and all the people in France had great 
joy, and not without cause, for until now the said King 
had had no male child. And the King gave thanks 
to God and the Virgin Mary. And that day he went 
to Nostre-Dame de Paris, and caused a beautiful mass 
to Our Lady to be sung before her image at the en- 

1 " Queens of England," A. Strickland, vol. ii. p. 345. 

2 Christine de Pisan. 



78 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1368 

trance of the choir ; and the next day, Monday, he 
went to Saint Denis in France on pilgrimage, and he 
caused to be given away at Paris a great heap of 
florins, to the number of three thousand florins and 
more." x 

The child was christened on Wednesday, the 6th 
of December, and the chronicler thus describes the 
proceedings : — 

" The Wednesday following, sixth day of December, 
in the year one thousand three hundred and sixty- 
eight aforesaid, the said son of the King was chris- 
tened in the church of Saint-Pol of Paris, about the 
hour of prime, in the manner which follows. And the 
day before were made enclosures of wood in the street 
before the said church, and also inside the said church 
about the font, to take care that there should not be 
too great press of people. 

" First : before the said child went two hundred 
varies who carried two hundred torches, who all 
remained in the said street, 2 holding the said burning 
torches, except twenty-six who went inside. And 
after was Messire Hue de Chasteillon, seigneur de 
Dampierre, master of the crossbowmen, who carried a 
candle in his hand, and the Comte de Tanquarville, 
who carried a cup in which was the salt, and had a 
towel at his neck with which the said salt was covered. 
And after was the Queen, Jehanne d'Evreux, who 
carried the said child in her arms, and Monseigneur 
Charles, seigneur de Montmorenci, et Monseigneur 
Charles, comte de Dampmartin, were beside her ; and 
thus they issued from the said hostel of the King of 

1 " Grandes Chroniques de France," t. vi. p. 267. 2 Idem. 



1368] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 79 

Saint-Pol, by the door which is the nearest to the 
church. And immediately after the said child, were 
the Due d'Orleans, the King's uncle, the Due de Berry, 
the Due de Bourbon, the Queen's brother, and many 
other great seigneurs and ladies ; Queen Blanche, the 
Duchesse d'Orleans, the Comtesse de Harcourt and 
the Dame de Lebret, 1 sisters of the Queen, who were 
well adorned with coronets and jewels." 2 

The chronicler goes on to describe the christening, 
the cardinals, bishops, and abbots with mitres and 
crosiers, how the crowd was so great that the child 
had to be taken home by a back way and how the 
King gave away money in the coulture Ste. Katherine, 
where there was also such a crowd that several women 
were killed. 

The Queen seems to have been ill a long time, for 
the chronicler says that there was a great fete when 
she recovered {releva de sa gesine) from her confine- 
ment, on the 4th February, and after the dinner a 
dance and other amusements, and the King gave his 
son the title of Dauphin du Viennois. 

Charles had succeeded in getting rid of the Grande 
Compagnie led by the Archipretre, mentioned in the 
life of Jeanne de Boulogne, Bertrand du Guesclin 
having, persuaded them to go with him to Spain, to 
fight against Pedro el Cruel, at the request of the 
King, who said : " If some one would lead ces gens- 
Id against the miscreant and tyrant Pedro, who has 
killed our sister, let him do so whatever it costs 
me." 3 

1 Marguerite de Bourbon. - " Grandes Chroniques de France." 
3 " Chron. de Bertrand du Guesclin," Cuvelier, 14th century. 



8o 



PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1369 



The news of the defeat and death of Pedro was 
brought to Paris in the early summer, and the 
chronicler remarks, "and certainly many people 
thought that this had happened to the said Pierre 
because he was a very bad man and had wickedly and 
traitorously murdered his good, wedded wife, daughter 




of the Due de Bourbon and sister of the Queen of 
France." The inhabitants of Guyenne had revolted 
against the Black Prince, who had been taxing them 
too heavily; and the war with England had begun 
again, but this time it seemed to be going in favour of 
France. Fortress after fortress fell into French hands 



1370] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 81 

and on the 29th April, Abbeville surrendered to Hue 
de Chatillon. 

This and the next year passed prosperously for the 
kingdom. Bertrand du Guesclin, created Constable 
of France, was everywhere winning back towns, 
castles, and fortresses ; the gallant Sir John Chandos 
was killed in Poitou, and by the end of 1370, Ponthieu, 
Perigord, Rouergue, Saintonge, Poitou, part of 
Limousin, and nearly all Guyenne had been won 
back. The rapid restoration of the kingdom was a 
marvel to every one. The hero du Guesclin was the 
idol of the nation ; the Due de Bourbon especially 
loved him because he had avenged his sister the Queen 
of Spain. The wise and firm government of the King 
brought prosperity and order into everything. His 
Court was magnificent, not with the wild and warlike 
revelry of Philippe and Jean de Valois, but with the 
refined and artistic luxury of a prince more cultivated 
than his time. 

All round about Paris he restored and rebuilt the 
royal chateaux that had been destroyed by the Eng- 
lish and Navarrais, taking care to fortify them at the 
same time. Melun, Creil, Montargis, amongst others, 
and St. Germain, which had been burnt by the soldiers 
of King Edward. He gave Paris a new bridge, walls, 
gates, and the Bastille, of which the first stone was 
laid by Aubriot, provost of Paris, in April, 1370. He 
had built two new royal residences, Beaute, a most 
delightful chateau at the end of the forest of 
Vincennes, and the hotel de St. Paul at Paris, having 
taken a dislike to the Palais de la Cite, from the scenes 
of blood and terror that he had witnessed there. 



82 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1370 

The Louvre was not large enough for the immense 
number of suites of apartments he wanted. Gradually 
it was used in his reign chiefly to entertain and lodge 
foreign princes. He bought several hotels, gardens, 
and meadows and turned the whole into one huge 
palace, which, with its pleasure grounds, covered 
nearly all the space between the river, the rue St. 
Antoine, the rue St. Paul, and the Bastille. The 
hotels de Sens, de Saint Maur, d'Etampes, hotel de la 
Reine, and others. 

The whole were surrounded with a high wall, en- 
closing, besides all these great hotels which formed 
the palace, and were connected by twelve galleries, 
six meadows, eight gardens, and a number of courts. 
All the princes of the blood, great nobles and officers 
of the court had their apartments in this wonderful 
palace, which the King declared should for ever 
belong to the Crown, adding that he had there en- 
joyed many pleasures, endured and recovered from 
many illnesses, and therefore he regarded it with 
singular affection. 

It was a curious mixture of luxury and simplicity, 
arm, feudal castle, and palace all in one. 1 The King 
delighted in the gardens and orchards and used to 
work in them with his own hands. Both he and 
Jeanne were also very fond of animals, and seem to 
have had an immense number of pets, for which there 
were enclosures and aviaries in all their palaces, but 
especially at their two favourite abodes, St. Paul and 
Beaute. They had lions and wild boars amongst 
other creatures, and numbers of birds. Besides the 

1 Martin, " Hist. France." 



1370] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 83 

great aviaries at the Palais, the Louvre, St. Paul, and 
the other palaces, there were in every apartment in St. 
Paul bird-cages of wire painted green, and there is an 
account of a large octagon cage made at that palace 1 
for the King's parrot, which is called "la cage au 
pape-gaut du Roy!' There were numbers of fowls, 
pigeons, and peacocks, the wild boars were kept in a 
garden, the lions, of course, in dens, and there were 
rooms for the turtle doves and for the Queen's dogs. 

The description of the interior of this palace, or 
group of palaces, reads like a page out of the 
" Arabian Nights." One large hotel (one of three 
houses the King gave the Queen) was used for her 
horses, coches, and the grooms and people belonging 
to her stables. The concieigerie, lingerie, tapisserie, 
patisserie, pelleterie, fruiterie, lavandrie, saucisserie, 
panneterie, epicerie, taillerie, maison du four, jeux de 
paumes, garde-manger, celliers, caves, cuisines char- 
bonnerie fauconnerie, &c, must have formed a little 
town in themselves. Silk, velvet, tapestry, Spanish 
leather, and cloth of gold covered the walls, floors, 
and seats. The furniture, massive and picturesque in 
form, was ornamented with rich carving, illumination, 
gold or gems. The beams of the ceiling were 
decorated with gold fleurs-de-lis. The rooms were 
heated with stoves [etuves) and huge fires on open 
hearths, with magnificent chimney pieces of stone 
sculptured often with colossal statues and figures of 
animals. The washing basins and all the dinner 
services, &c, used by the royal family were of gold or 
silver. All the numerous apartments of the different 

1 Sauval. 



84 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1370 

princes, princesses, and great personages had chapels, 
galleries, bath-rooms, &c, attached to them. The 
room of the King's jewels was brilliant with gold, 
silver, and precious stones. 

To say nothing of the art treasures of gold, jewels, 
and illuminations, what would not a lover of art and 
antiquity in our own day give for one of the long oak 
benches, for instance, ending in handles like those of 
baskets, carved all over with birds and animals, and 
mounted on many carved columns — especially for the 
one called " the old bench of St. Louis," which stood 
in the King's dining room at the Louvre. 

It was in their favourite hotel de St. Paul, or as it 
is called in old writings, St. Pol, that Charles and 
Jeanne principally lived, and here were born the 
Dauphin and all their younger children. 

The birth of the Princess Marie took place on the 
27th of February, 1370, and her godmothers were 
Jeanne, daughter of Philippe VI. and Queen Blanche, 
and the Dame d'Albret, sister of the Queen. 

With the exception of Blanche, whom she never 
met again after her disastrous marriage with the 
King of Spain, Jeanne saw a great deal of her family, 
especially of her three youngest sisters, the Comtesse 
de Harcourt, the Dame d'Albret, and the Prieure de 
Poissy. Bonne, Comtesse de Savoie, was farther 
away in her beautiful southern home, and being the 
wife of a greater prince, had more of the occupations 
and cares of a government upon her hands. Bonne 
was brave, clever, sensible, and universally admired. 
Things went prosperously enough with her until, after 
she had been married about thirty years, in 1385 her 



1370] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 85 

husband, the Green Count, died of plague in Italy, 
where he had gone on some warlike expedition. She 
governed Savoy for her son Amadeo VII., the Red 
Count, whom she married to a daughter of the Due 
de Berry. But the Red Count was killed out hunting 
in 1 391. He left the guardianship of his son and the 
regency of Savoy to his mother, in whom he might 
well have the greatest reliance, instead of to his young 
widow who had neither the talents nor experience to 
fit her for such a trust, and who, he was quite sure 
would marry again, as she did. In spite of her 
opposition the Countess Bonne assumed the guardian- 
ship of her grandson Amadeo VIII. and the State. 
After he came of age she could not get her dowry 
properly paid, so she sent for her brother Louis, Due 
de Bourbon, who came at once with a troop of 
soldiers and threatened to make war upon the 
Savoyards. Thereupon the dowry was paid without 
any further trouble. Bonne died at the Chateau de 
Macon, 1402. In 1372 the Duchess-dowager de 
Bourbon, mother of the Queen, was at the castle of 
Belle Perche, in the Bourbonnais, when one night it 
was surprised by three captains of brigands or free 
companies, who got in by scaling the walls. Louis 
de Bourbon assembled his vassals and friends and 
laid siege to the place where his mother was a 
prisoner. The Duchess managed to let him know 
that she was afraid of the things the engines threw in 
and the damage they caused, and that she wished 
him to blockade the castle. He did so accordingly, 
but the Earls of Cambridge and Pembroke arrived 
with a large force and carried off the Duchess and her 



86 



PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1371 



ladies to a chateau in Limousin. She was soon after- 
wards exchanged for Simon Burke, a favourite of the 
Black Prince, She went to Clermont, a hunting 
chateau of her son, and in the forest close by she met 
her daughters coming to see her. 1 In a miniature 
representing their meeting the Queen advances 
wearing a dress covered with fleurs-de-lis and em- 




MEETING OF THE QUEEN AND HER MOTHER. 

blazoned with the arms of France and Bourbon, 
holding a bird, the sign of high rank and led by Jean 
de Bourbon, Comte de la Marche. Her little 
daughter Marie, bearing the same arms accompanies 
her, then come the young Duchess, wife of Louis, and 
the Queen's sisters, Comtesses de Savoie and Har- 



Abbe Choisy, " Hist. Charles V." 



1373] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 87 

court, and Dame d'Albret. Each leads a dog with a 
a long leash, two ladies follow, one carrying the train 
of the Duchesse de Bourbon. All the princesses have 
the arms of their husbands and of Bourbon em- 
blazoned on their dresses, including the Duchess- 
dowager, Isabelle de Valois, who also wears a long 
widow's veil. 1 

Parti-coloured dresses were much worn then. The 
Queen's second son, Louis, was born March, 1371. 
Bertrand du Guesclin was his godfather, and put a 
sword into his hand, praying God and Our Lady to 
make him a good knight. In July, 1373, was born 
her daughter Isabelle. The little Dauphin was her 
godfather and held her at the font ; her grandmother, 
the Duchess Isabelle, was her godmother. 

Louis de Bourbon had married in 1371 Anne, 
daughter of the Comte de Clermont et d'Auvergne. 
He was a good soldier, just, generous, and religious ; 
his court was as magnificent as those of the Dukes of 
Burgundy and Orleans. When he returned from 
being a hostage in England he instituted an order of 
chivalry called the Ecu d'or. During the fete, after 
the ceremony, his Procureur-General, Chavreau, pre- 
sented to him a register of depredations committed 
on his lands during his captivity by divers lords, his 
vassals, most of whom were present, and were seized 
with consternation; but the Duke replied, "Chavreau, 
have you also the register of the services they have 
rendered me ? " and without looking at it, threw it 
into the fire. It is said that when, after the capture 
of his mother, Anne, Duchesse de Bretagne, fell into 

1 Montfaucon, " Monuments de la Monarchic fran.aise." 



88 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1373 

his hands and exclaimed, " A/i, beau cousin ! am I a 
prisoner?" he replied, "No, madame, we do not make 
war on ladies." His subjects adored him, and when, 
many years afterwards, he died and his body was 
brought to Moulins to be buried, clergy and people 
thronged to accompany it wherever the funeral 
passed, with tears and lamentations. 



CHAPTER VI 

1373-1380 

Illness of the Queen — Her recovery — Floods in Paris — Death ot several 
princesses of the Royal Family — Bertrand du Guesclin — The 
Court of Charles V. and Jeanne de Bourbon — The peers of France 
— The King's will — Betrothal of his daughters — Visit of the 
Emperor Charles IV. — The Emperor and the Duchess-dowager de 
Bourbon — Birth of the Princess Catherine — Death of the Queen — 
Of the Princess Isabelle — Grief of the King — His death. 

THE beds used at this time were enormous. If 
only six feet square they were considered very 
small and called couchettes, but when they were from 
eight feet and a half by seven and a half to twelve 
feet by eleven, they were supposed to be of a 
sufficient size and called couches. These beds were 
mounted on very wide steps covered with rich carpets, 
and were hung with exquisite and costly stuffs ; 
alcoves, supposed to be so much later an invention, 
were then in use. The chronicler of the quatre 
premiers Valois relates that in 1373 the Queen was 
seized with a dangerous illness. She seems to have 

been delirious, as he goes on to say that she lost her 

89 



90 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1373 

bonne mfanoire, that the King, qui moult I'aimoit, made 
many pilgrimages about it, and that by the mercy of 
God and Our Lady she recovered her good health 
and good senses. In spite of his delicate health 
Charles often made these pilgrimages to holy places, 
walking barefoot with the monks. 

In the early part of 1373 there were great floods, 
especially of the Seine, Marne, Yonne, Oise, and 
Loire. They lasted two months and were said to be 
the worst that had happened within living memory. 
The streets of Paris were full of water so that people 
had to go about in boats. From one gate to another 
the water flowed ; it rose to the bridges and filled the 
lower rooms in the houses. 

Several princesses of the French royal family had 
died within a short time — the Queen-dowager, 
Jeanne d'Evreux, of whose will and funeral an account 
was given in a former volume ; Jeanne, Queen of 
Navarre, eldest sister of the King; the Princess 
Jeanne, daughter of Philippe VI. and Queen Blanche, 
who died on her way to Spain to marry the son of the 
King of Arragon. Also the old Prioress of Poissy, 
great aunt of the Queen, who was the Princess Marie 
de Clermont, daughter of Robert, Comte de Clermont, 
son of St. Louis. In early youth she had been 
betrothed to the Marquis de Montferrat. But she 
had set her heart on a monastic life, and she took the 
veil with the approval of her cousin Philippe le Bel, 
in the convent he had just founded at Poissy. She 
became Prioress, but having lost her sight she 
resigned that dignity, and died in May, 1372, at 
seventy-three years of age. It was, of course, after- 



1373] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE BE BOURBON 91 

wards that Marie de Bourbon, youngest sister of the 
Queen, was made Prioress of Poissy. 

These were years of success and happiness for 
Charles and Jeanne. They had now four children, 
two of whom were sons. Prosperity was restored to 
their kingdom. The people trusted them, so that 
heavier taxes than those which caused riots under 
Jean and Charles VI. were paid without opposition 
by the subjects of Charles V., who knew that the 
affairs of the State were administered by able hands, 
and that the money so collected would be used 
for the defence and welfare of the country, not 
squandered on court pageants or unworthy favourites. 

A truce was made with England, who had lost all 
the territories won from the late King, and restored 
to France by the wisdom of Charles le Sage and the 
valour of Bertrand du Guesclin. 

Romance and poetry gather, as well they may, 
around the career of this heroic leader, the despised, 
neglected child of a poor Breton gentleman ; who 
swept the English from his country, and died 
Constable of France, surrounded by his victorious 
troops, the keys of Chateauneuf-Randon, his last 
conquest, being laid upon his coffin. His father, a 
Breton noble, and his mother, who was proud and 
beautiful, considered their eldest son a disgrace to 
their family — for Bertrand was ugly, rough, and 
continually fighting and getting into mischief. 
Disliked and ill-treated at home he made his escape 
from his father's chateau, and took refuge with an 
uncle and aunt, who received him with kindness, and 
with whom he remained. When he was sixteen or 



92 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1373 

seventeen there was one day a wrestling match at 
Rennes, and being resolved to attend it he ran away 
from church, fought at the match and won the prize, 
but was so dreadfully hurt that he had to be carried 
back to the chateau of his uncle, where he was laid 
up for some time, during which his aunt, divided 
between her sorrow and uneasiness about his wounds 
and her anger at his disobedience, kept coming into 
his room, alternately reproaching and consoling him. 
Sometime afterwards there was a tourney at Rennes. 
Bertrand borrowed a horse and arms of his cousin 
and presented himself in the lists, challenging the 
first esquire who would break a lance with him. 
One of the bravest of the troop came forward, and 
was overthrown by him at the first shock. The next 
adversary who advanced was his own father. Recog- 
nising the arms of his house upon his father's shield, 
Bertrand threw down his own, to the astonishment of 
all present, who attributed his doing so to fear. But 
he overthrew the next adversary and then raised his 
casque. His father embraced him, and his mother 
and aunt were filled with joy. His father then gave 
him everything he wanted for the outfit of a cavalier, 
and by his gallant deeds he soon rose to the height 
of fame. The story of his death in 1380, when 
besieging the castle of Chateauneuf-Randon in 
Gevaudan, as told by ancient chroniclers, is as 
follows : The Castle was to surrender the day after 
Du Guesclin died ; Marshal de Sancerre summoned 
the Governor to give up the keys, but he answered 
that he had sworn to yield them only to Du Guesclin. 
Being told that he was dead, he replied, " Then I will 






1373] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 93 

lay them on his tomb." The Marshal consented, the 
Governor, at the head of the garrison, issued from the 
castle, and passing through the ranks of the besieging 
army knelt before I the body of Du Guesclin and laid 
the keys on his coffin. 

Before he died Du Guesclin charged his captains 
to remember that in whatever country they made 
war, women, children, the poor and les gens de Veglise 
were not their enemies. He had all his life been 
good to the weak and the poor. 

The King and Queen showed all honour and 
affection to Du Guesclin. 

Louis de Harcourt had been one of the foremost 
captains in the English war, and now came to Paris 
with the King's brothers. Charles had suspected 
him sometime before of being in love with the Queen, 
and had regarded him with jealousy and anger in 
consequence, but having become convinced that he 
had been mistaken and unreasonable, que sans raison 
il avoit en cettc folle suspicion, he received him moult 
agreablement el joyeusemcnt? 

While there can be no doubt that the court of 
Charles V. and Jeanne de Bourbon was much more 
orderly and more intellectual than those of the two 
first Valois kings, it does not seem so certain that it 
was equally amusing. It was stately and magnifi- 
cent ; comfort, luxury, and civilisation had greatly 
increased ; there were splendid banquets, balls, and 

1 Some doubt has been thrown on the certainty of this occurrence, 
but an ancient chronicler of Du Guesclin gives an account which con- 
firms the fact of the keys being laid on the coffin of the dead hero. 
(Guizot, " Hist. France," t. ii. p. 201.) 

2 "Chronique des quatre premiers Valois." 



94 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1373 

other entertainments, but the accounts of the daily 
life there, which have come down to us from that 
time, especially those of Christine de Pisan, who 
lived among the scenes she describes, show a very 
different state of things from the brilliant, reckless 
lives of pleasure and gaiety led by all who belonged 
to the Court of France in the days of Philippe de 
Valois and his son Jean. 

The King got up at six or seven o'clock in the 
morning, and when dressed his breviary was brought 
him and he went to his oratory to hear mass ; after 
which he gave audience to anybody who wished to 
ask him anything. In these interviews he treated 
everybody who approached him with the greatest 
courtesy and kindness. On certain days he then 
went to the Council Chamber, and at ten o'clock he 
sat down to dinner, music going on all the time of 
that repast. When it was over he devoted two hours 
to interviews with foreign envoys, or with any one 
bringing news from the seat of war, 1 or of any other 
matters of importance in different parts of his king- 
dom. Then he went to lie down for an hour, and 
after that, one reads with a feeling of relief, that he 
allowed himself a little pleasure. Christine de Pisan 
takes care to explain that this was only in order that 
he might work better afterwards, but one may trust 
that this absurd suggestion was only an idea of her 
own, and that the mind of Charles was not so 
saturated with duty and dulness as she would imply. 

1 He had couriers who rode night and day and brought him news 
from a distance of eighty leagues on the following day. (Martin, " Hist. 
France. ") 



1373] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 95 

At any rate, he amused himself during this part of 
the day by looking at his books, jewels, and different 
collections, and talking with his friends. Perhaps the 
most intimate and the one he loved best was Jean de 
la Riviere. There is a note of a ring he gave him, 
with a ruby in it qui tient au violet. 

Next, the King went to vespers and then out into 
his garden, where generally the Queen was with him, 
and where curious and beautiful things were often 
brought to them by the merchants. In winter he had 
different books read to him ; stories from the Scrip- 
tures, philosophy, romances, &c, till supper, and 
during the rest of the evening he amused himself. 
Jeanne also had some one to read aloud to her while 
she was at dinner. 

The King's devotion to the Queen had never 
changed. From his boyish days at the court of his 
grandfather she had been the only woman he had 
ever loved. Without consulting her he would take 
no step of importance, and he cared for no pleasure 
she could not share. They lived, as Christine de 
Pisan says, en paix et en amour. Charles delighted 
in finding and giving her beautiful presents of jewels, 
curiosities, objects of art, or anything that he thought 
would please her. 

Christine de Pisan describes with enthusiasm the 
way in which Jeanne held her court, the order and 
magnificence with which everything was arranged, 
whether in the daily life of her court and household, 
or in the splendid entertainments and ceremonies of 
state. She speaks of the beauty and dignity of 
Jeanne, as she appeared at these festivities, wearing 



96 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1373 

her crown, her royal mantle of cloth of gold, or of 
silk covered with precious stones, and a girdle of 
jewels, accompanied by two or three queens (the two 
Queens-dowager, Jeanne and Blanche, and the Queen 
of Navarre), by her mother the Duchesse de Bourbon 
and by all the members of the royal family and 
court. 

The peers of France in the time of Charles V. were 
as follows : Original peers ecclesiastical, called Clercs 
Dues, i.e., the Archbishop of Reims and the Bishops 
of Laon and Langres ; Clercs Comtes, i.e., the Bishops 
of Beauvais, Chalons, and Noyon. 

Lay peers, i.e., Dukes of Burgundy, Normandy, and 
Aquitaine; Counts of Toulouse, Flanders, and Cham- 
pagne. 

But the King held in his hands the Counties of 
Toulouse and Champagne, and the following new 
ones had been created. 

Comte d'Alencon, Due de Bourbon, Comte 
d'Etampes, Comte d'Artois, Due de Bretagne, Comte 
de Clermont and Roi de Navarre (as Comte 
d'Evreux). 

The lay peers sat on the right of the King, the 
ecclesiastical on the left. New peers sat according to 
creation. 1 

That Charles should forbid private wars among the 
nobles was a matter of course. He also made a law 
forbidding games of hazard. He discouraged all 
books of licentious tendency and conversation of the 
same kind, and gave out that those who led scan- 
dalous lives would lose his favour and be dismissed 

1 " Hist. Ceremonial Francais." T. Gcdefroy. 






1373] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 97 

from court. He was very angry with a young 
chevalier who had, as Christine de Pisan expresses it, 
"instructed the Dauphin in love and folly," and forbade 
him to enter his presence, or that of the Queen and 
their children ; but he does not seem to have been 
cruel or very severe. He would by no means allow 
either his nobles or any one else to condemn their wives 
to perpetual imprisonment if they were unfaithful to 
them, " considering the fragility of human nature," and 
was with great difficulty persuaded to allow of their 
being kept under restraint if their conduct was too 
outrageous. 

On one occasion his barber, who was shaving him, 
kept putting his hand in the pouch or purse the King 
wore at his side and taking out money. Charles saw 
what he was about and forgave him ; but he repeated 
his offence twice or thrice. The fourth time, the King 
dismissed him but would not allow him to be put to 
death, as by the laws of that time he was liable to be ; 
because he had served him so long. Another time, 
" it was in the time of the pestilence, before he was 
crowned, 1 as he was entering Paris with a great com- 
pany, after a great commotion in the town which had 
been against him," as he passed through a street one 
of the rabble cried out, " By God, Sire ! if I had been 
believed, you would not have come in ; but they will 
not do much for you." 

The Comte de Tanquarville, who rode before the 
King, wanted to go and put the fellow to death, but 
Charles restrained him, only answering with an in- 
different smile. " They will not believe you, beau 

1 Christine de Pisan. 



98 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1373 

sire." On being told by some of the princes that he 
was too easy and too ready to grant pardons, by 
which he encouraged crime, he replied that he would 
much rather be too indulgent than too severe. He 
was exceedingly charitable both to the convents and 
to the poor and unfortunate of all classes, and gave 
away an immense amount of money. 

The government of Languedoc had been entrusted 
by the King to the Due d'Anjou, the eldest and 
perhaps the worst of his brothers. But his rule was 
so cruel and oppressive, and such commotions arose 
from it that Charles interfered ; forbade the execu- 
tions and punishments ordered by the Duke to be 
carried out, and took the government of the province 
away from him. The two elder of the King's brothers 
were a continual source of uneasiness to him. Be- 
lieving from his delicate health that his own life 
would not be a long one, he felt a dread that was 
only too well founded of what would happen if in the 
event of his death the kingdom and the Dauphin 
should fall into their hands. He did what he could 
to obviate this contingency. He fixed the majority 
of the Dauphin at fourteen years of age. He gave 
the guardianship of him and his brother and sisters 
to the Queen, her brother the Due de Bourbon, and 
his third brother the Due de Bourgogne. The Due 
d'Anjou, though he was to be regent, was to swear 
on the gospels and holy relics to govern loyally for 
the welfare of the kingdom and his nephew, and was 
to have no jurisdiction over the town and vicomte of 
Paris, the towns and baitlages of Melun and Sens, and 
the whole of the duchy of Normandy, which were to 



1377] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 99 

be administered for the King by his guardians and a 
council ; he also regulated the fortunes of his younger 
children. The Princess Marie was betrothed to 
Guillaume de Baviere, Comte de Hollande, et de 
Hainault, eldest son of the Duke of Bavaria, and the 
Princess Isabelle to Jean, Due d'Alencon. The 
crowns or coronets for these little princesses and 
several other of their possessions appear in a list 
made by order of their father. 1 

In December, 1377, the Emperor Charles IV. came 
on a visit to the King and Queen. Preparations for 
his reception were made on the grandest scale. He 
arrived at Cambrai on Tuesday before Christmas 
with his son, the King of the Romans, was met by 
a body of nobles and cavaliers sent by the King to 
welcome him and entertained by the Bishop. The 
next night he slept at the abbey of Mont St. Martin. 
The Due de Bourbon, the Comte d'Eu, cousin of 
the King, and the Bishops of Beauvais and Paris 
came to meet him at Compiegne with three hundred 
cavaliers in blue and white, the Duke's colours. The 
Due de Bourbon entertained the whole company at 
supper and the next day, at Senlis, the Emperor was 
met by another array of cavalry with the Dukes of 
Burgundy and Berry. As he had been seized on the 
way with an attack of gout, the King of France sent 
a litter drawn by mules and " noblement appareilliee" 2 
belonging to the Queen, which the Emperor received 
with great satisfaction and in which he travelled to 
St. Denis. There he was met by a train of prelates 
and dignitaries who accompanied him to the famous 

1 Documents inedits. - " Grandes Chroniques de France." 



joo PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1377 

church into which, as he was not well enough to walk, 
he caused himself to be carried and offered his prayers 
before the altar of St. Louis. He was then carried to 
his room and his suite were supplied by the Abbot 
with "great fish, beef, mutton, rabbits, fowls, fodder 
for their horses, and abundance of wine." Many 
presents were brought by the people of the town, and 
the Emperor when he had rested was carried to the 
treasury of the abbey, where priceless collections of 
relics, crowns, and gems were displayed before him. 
The robes, crowns, jewels, and everything of the kind 
used at the coronations were kept by the Abbot and 
monks of St. Denis. 

The Emperor spent that day in the Abbey, and 
rose very early the next morning, January 4th, as on 
that day he was to go to Paris. But before he set off 
he was carried again into the churchy where he asked 
to see the tombs of the kings, especially of Jean and of 
Philippe de Valois and his wife, Jeanne de Bourgogne. 
For he was the son of the gallant King of Bohemia, 
who died at Crecy ; his sister, Bonne, was the first 
wife of Jean, and he himself had been brought up in 
the court of Philippe de Valois and Jeanne de 
Bourgogne. As he remarked, "his youth had been 
nourished in their hostel and much good they had 
done to him." x And he called the Abbot and monks 
and begged them to pray to God for the " bons 
seigneurs et dames qui gisoient Id" Then, with much 
state and ceremony, he began his journey to Paris, to 
visit once more the splendid scenes of those far-off 

1 "... en leur hostel avoit este norry en sa jeunesse et que moult 
de biens luy avoient fais." 



1377] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 101 

days and the children of those who had been the 
friends and companions of his youth. And he said 
that more than any creature on earth he desired to 
see the King and Queen and their children, and then 
let God take him, for he would willingly die. 

The Emperor got out of his litter and entered 
Paris mounted on a black horse richly caparisoned 
with the arms of France, sent him by the King his 
nephew, who came out to meet him mounted on a 
tall white charger wearing a scarlet robe, mantle and 
hat covered with pearls, with a great train of nobles 
and chevaliers gorgeously dressed attended by their 
followers wearing their liveries, the officers of the 
households of the King and the Dauphin in immense 
numbers dressed according to their grades. The 
King had sent a proclamation the day before that 
no one should dare (que nul ne fust tant hardi) to 
take up the space in the grant rue by coming to the 
palace with carts or people, and no one should move 
from the places where they had put themselves to see 
the King and Emperor pass. None were allowed 
to come into the town, and many of the inhabitants 
had to stay outside in the fields, while sergeants-at- 
arms were posted in the streets, and thirty of them 
with swords and maces rode before the King's body- 
guard. The King of France, the Emperor and the 
King of the Romans rode into Paris side by side in 
this magnificent procession, and it was three o'clock 
when they arrived at the marble steps of the palace, 
when the Emperor, who could hardly hold himself 
up from the gout, was placed in a chair covered 
with cloth of gold and with much honour and 



102 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1377 

ceremony conducted to the apartment prepared for 
him. 

It would be too long in a work like this to give 
the details so minutely described and so interesting 
to the student of history, of the proceedings of the 
next few days, during which the Emperor remained 
the guest of the King of France, of the banquets with 
five dais one above another in great halls where 
windows, ceiling, and columns were hung with cloth 
of gold, of the profusion of the feasting, of the spectacle 
of the conquest of Jerusalem in the vast hall of the 
Palais de la Cite, of the entertainments at the Louvre, 
Beaute and Vincennes, offered by the King to the 
Emperor. It will be sufficient to relate what is 
perhaps the most interesting event of his sojourn 
in Paris, his visit to the Queen at the hotel St. Paul 
on Sunday, January 10th. The Emperor, accom- 
panied by the King of France, went down to the 
quay near the Louvre, where they embarked on the 
King's barge and proceeded by water to St. Pol, 
where they landed. They were met in the middle 
of the court by the Dauphin and his brother Louis 
Comte de Valois, who knelt before the King and 
then went to salute the Emperor. The latter took 
off his hat, kissed the two boys, and was carried on 
in his chair through such a throng of seigneurs, 
knights, and people of the Court that the chair 
could hardly pass, to the salon of the Queen, who 
was in the midst of a great assemblage of princesses 
and ladies of the court. As he sat by the Queen 
the Emperor kept asking for her mother, the Duchesse 
de Bourbon, Isabelle de Valois, the sister of his first 



1377] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE BE BOURBON 103 

wife and friend of his sister Bonne, Duchesse de 
Normandie, whom he had known so well in the old 
days at Paris and Vincennes. She had withdrawn to 
the end of the great room out of the crowd, but when 
she was told that he was anxious to see her she came 
up to him. 

Then for a moment they looked at each other in 
silence. The memories of bygone days, of their own 
youth, of the forms and faces of the dead came back 
to them and they both burst into tears, so that, as 
the chronicler says, " it was a piteous thing to see." r 
Finding it impossible to carry on any conversation 
then, they deferred it till after dinner. After the 
Emperor had rested in the apartment of the Dauphin, 
which had been prepared for him, the Kings of France 
and of the Romans dined, wine and dessert were' 
served, and the banquet was in the great Salle de 
Sens. Then Charles V. retired to his own rooms ; 
his brothers with the King of the Romans, who 
wanted to see the lions, went to find Louis, Comte 
de Valois, who probably wished to go with them, and 
the Duchesse de Bourbon came to the apartment of 
the Emperor, her brother-in-law. For a long time 
they sat together, talking of old times, as people 
will who were companions in childhood after being 
separated for half a lifetime. Later on they were 
joined by the Queen and her two little sons, and they 
all stayed with the Emperor till the hour of vespers. 

They brought him two beautiful dogs with the 
golden fleur-de-lis on their silken collars, and he 
gave the Queen a gold reliquary. 

1 " C'estoit piteuse chose a regarder." 



io 4 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1378 

Towards evening the King came to fetch the 
Emperor as they were going down to Vincennes 
and Beaute, whence the latter was to take his 
departure. 1 

It was the last fete of the court of Jeanne de 
Bourbon. For less than a month afterwards, on the 
4th of February, at the hotel St. Paul, she gave birth 
to a daughter, " dont moult fut grevee de travail? To 
allay the violence of the fever with which she was 
seized the Queen insisted on being put into a cold 
bath, after which she became alarmingly ill. The 
child was hastily baptized by the Bishop of Paris and 
called after her mother's favourite Saint Catherine. 
All her life Jeanne had desired to die before her 
husband, and said she hoped she would never live to 
be regent. She had her wish, 2 for she died in the 
King's arms February 6, 1378, about two hours before 
midnight. 

The little Princess Isabelle died a few days after 
her mother, and was buried by her side at St. Denis. 

Jeanne de Bourbon was one of the most charming 
and spotless characters in history. From her 
childish marriage to her death she does not 
seem to have had an enemy or a word of blame 
ever attached to her. She was always spoken of as 
" la belle duchesse " or " la bonne reine." Charles 
was inconsolable. He never had the frank, open 
nature nor the graceful charm of manner that made 
some of the princes of his house adored by their 
friends and subjects. Quiet and reserved, he was a 

1 " Grandes Chroniques de France," t. vi. p. 401. 

2 De Mezeray. 



1378] CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON 105 

man of few but deep and lasting friendships and 
affections, and he was capable of a deathless love. 
The loss of Jeanne broke his heart. From that day 
his life was over. He never regained either health or 
spirits, but died rather more than two years after at 
his chateau of Beaute at the edge of his beloved 
forest. 

Isabelle de Valois, Duchess-dowager de Bourbon, 
took charge of her granddaughters and retired into 
the convent of the Cordelieres at Paris, where she 
ended her days. 




Seme de Trance ' 
au. baton de Queu/es 
to/s enbande . 



THE REIGN OF CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU 
DE B A VI ERE 

CHAPTER I 
1375-1335 



The House of Wittelsbach — Stephan von Wittelsbach and Taddea 
Visconti — Birth of Isabeau — Negotiations for her marriage — Her 
journey to Brussels — The fair of Amiens — Her interview with the 
King — Her wedding — Charles and Louis de France. 



URING several years after 
the death of Jeanne de 
Bourbon no Queen sat on 
the throne of France, for 
her son succeeded as a 
child of twelve years old. 
And it would have been 
difficult to find two kings and queens more totally 
unlike each other in every respect than Charles le 
Sage and Jeanne de Bourbon, " the sunshine of 
France," were to their son and daughter-in-law, 
Charles VI. and Isabeau de Baviere. 

An intelligent woman of my acquaintance once 

107 




108 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1375 

remarked, on being asked whether she considered 
women to be better than men, " Oh, certainly ! 
Much better. I know several good women, but 
I only know one good man." 

It might appear as if some idea of the kind per- 
vaded this and a former volume, in which, with the 
exception perhaps of Charles V. and Louis XII., 
none of the Kings of France treated of can be 
exactly so described ; whereas the talents, beauty, 
and goodness of the Queens seem generally made 
evident. But all the researches into the history of 
their times, from which these records are drawn, seem 
to prove that during the eight reigns in question most 
of the Queens of France really were distinguished for 
their excellent qualities, and that except the unlucky 
Charlotte de Savoie they were all more or less good- 
looking ; Blanche de Navarre, Isabeau de Baviere, 
and Marie d'Anjou being remarkably beautiful ; and 
that at any rate Blanche de Navarre, the three 
Jeannes, wives of Philippe de Valois, Jean and 
Charles V., and Anne de Bretagne, were highly 
cultivated women, possessing superior talents and 
strongly-marked characters. In Isabeau de Baviere 
we find an entirely different personality. 

Stephan I., Duke of Bavaria, of the ancient house 
of Wittelsbach, died in 1375, leaving three sons, 
between whom he divided his dominions, and from 
whom descend the three lines of Ingolstadt, Land- 
shut, and Munich. 

The strongest ties of affection and friendship 
united these three brothers, who however, seem to 
have borne little resemblance to each other. 



1383] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 109 

Stephan of Ingolstadt was short in stature, but 
goodlooking, high-spirited, and full of romance, his 
chief delight being in love - making and warlike 
adventures. Friederich of Landshut, a brave, wise, 
able prince, was by far the most capable member 
of the family, while Johann, a rough and fearless 
sportsman, led a wild, jovial life in his own court 
and castles, which he filled with huntsmen, hawks, 
dogs, and horses. 1 From him descends the Munich 
line of Bavarian princes. 2 Johann took a German 
wife, but Stephan and Friederich married Taddea 
and Maddalena, daughters of Bernabo Visconti, one 
of the chiefs of that family so renowned for splendour, 
power, and cruelty, then ruling in Milan. After a few 
years Taddea died, and left Stephan with a son and 
daughter named Ludwig and Isabeau, or Elizabeth. 
The latter was born at Ingolstadt 1370 or 1371. 
By his second marriage he had no children. 

In all Germany, and perhaps in all Europe, there 
is not a more beautiful country than Bavaria, with 
its lakes, mountains, forests, and ancient castles. 
Here Isabeau spent her short childhood, idolized by 
her father and brother, flattered and spoiled by all 
around her, for her extraordinary beauty was the 
admiration of the court. It was a brief childhood, 
for she was only about twelve years old when the 
first negotiations for her marriage with the King of 
France were begun. Her uncle, Friederich of Lands- 



1 " Baierischen Geschichten,"' Heinrich Zschokke. 

2 The house of Wittelsbach claims descent from Charlemagne. The 
Kings of Bavaria descend from Johann, or John of Munich the third 
brother. 



no PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1383 

hut, was serving in Flanders with the French against 
the English army in the year 1383, just at the 
time when the uncles and guardians of the young 
Charles VI. were looking for a wife for him, and 
as his father, the late King Charles V., had desired 
that he should be married to a German, and thus 
secure an ally to France against England, they were 
hesitating between the daughters of Austria, Lorraine, 
and one or two others that had been suggested, and 
inquired of Duke Friederich whether there were any 
marriageable princess of his family who would be 
suitable. 

Friederich was naturally anxious not to let slip the 
chance of the crown of France for one of his house ; 
so he explained that, although he had no children of 
the right age, his brother, Stephan, had a daughter in 
all respects suitable, being extremely beautiful and 
about two years younger than the King, and he 
lost no time in writing to inform his brother of the 
splendid prospect which seemed to be opening before 
them. But Duke Stephan, less ambitious than his 
brother, was in no way elated by this proposal. He 
replied that, in the first place, he did not like unequal 
alliances, and between himself and the King of 
France the difference was too great ; neither did 
he wish his daughter to go so far away, but would 
prefer to marry her to some noble of his own 
country ; besides which objections, there existed a 
custom that a prospective Queen of France should, 
like candidates for the army in our own days, pass a 
sort of medical examination which was conducted by 
certain matrons chosen from among the ladies of 



1383] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE in 

highest rank at. the French court ; and to this the 
Duke refused to consent. He declared that he was 
not going to allow either himself or his daughter to 
be made ridiculous by sending her to France on an 
uncertainty, or to risk the affront of her being rejected. 
She should stay in her own country and marry some 
one nearer home. So, for the time, the negotiations 
were broken off. 

It was indeed most unfortunate that the very 
sensible decision of Stephan was not adhered to, 
and also that in the one and only case in which the 
Dukes of Berry and Burgundy carried out the direc- 
tions of the late King, their brother, the result should 
have been so deplorable. In all other respects they 
disobeyed his injunctions. They brought up his sons 
in opposition to his wishes, they wasted the treasure 
he had taken so much time and care to collect, they 
impoverished the people by their extortions, and 
incensed them by their misgovernment, so that they 
were fast bringing France back to that state of 
anarchy and misery from which she had been 
rescued by the wise rule of Charles V. 

If Isabeau had stayed, as her father wished, at his 
comparatively simple court and married some German 
noble, it would probably have been much better both 
for France and herself ; but this was not to be, for 
the rest of the family and connections of that young 
princess strongly disapproved of the decision of Duke 
Stephan, and used all their endeavours to prevail 
upon him to alter it. For many generations the 
numerous members of the house of Wittelsbach had 
married into all the royal and ruling families of 



ii2 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1385 

France, Burgundy, and Flanders. Amongst others, 
the Duchesse de Brabant was a relation of theirs 
and was most anxious for the marriage. 

In 1385, the wedding of a Bavarian prince with one 
of the daughters of Philippe, Duke of Burgundy, was 
to be celebrated with great pomp and rejoicings at 
Cambrai, in the presence of the King and the whole 
of the French court. During the festivities the 
Duchesse de Brabant took the opportunity of re- 
opening the subject with the King's uncles to whom 
she pointed out all the alliances and advantages it 
would bring. The princes were willing to agree to 
it ; for they had not yet decided on a wife for their 
nephew. A daughter of Lancaster had been sug- 
gested, but this was not approved of, and they were 
still hesitating between an Austrian archduchess 
and a princess of Lorraine, having, as they said, 
received 1 no further communications from Bavaria. 
The duchess promised to see about it before the end 
of the summer. The Duke of Burgundy, himself 
closely connected with the house of Bavaria, was the 
chief supporter of this alliance and entered warmly into 
the plans of the Duchesse de Brabant, who succeeded 
in overcoming the objections of Stephan and persuaded 
him to allow his daughter to pay a visit to her and to 
the Duchesse de Hainault, also a relation, and then to 
go with them to the fair of Amiens, where she would 
meet the King. Her uncle, Duke Friederich was to 
take her, and in order to avoid anything compromis- 
ing to her dignity, she was to go on the pretext of a 
pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Jean d'Amiens, 

1 " Chronique de Flandre." 



1385] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 113 

where a famous relic was exhibited during the time 
this fair was going on. A painter was sent to paint 
the portraits of the three princesses, i.e., of Lorraine, 
Austria, and Bavaria. The portraits were shown to 
the King, who at once chose that of Isabeau. It still 
hangs in the gallery of the Louvre. She wears a red 
robe trimmed with fur, a tight corsage partly of blue 
velvet and a high headdress ornamented with gold 
and jewels. 

It was early summer when Isabeau took leave of 
her father and her country, and set off with her uncle 
upon her journey. They travelled first to Brussels, 
where they were warmly received by the Duchesse 
de Brabant with whom they stayed three days, and 
then went to Quesnoy to stay three weeks with the 
Duchesse de Hainault ; of whom Froissart remarks, 
" La duchesse qui fut moult sage, eftdoctrinait tons les 
jours, en toutes manicres et contenances, la jeune fille de 
Baviere, quoique, de sa nature, celle-ci cstoit propre et 
pourvue de sens et de doctrine ; mais point de francois 
elle ne scavoit." 

They also made considerable changes in Isabeau's 
dress, which they declared to be far too simple for 
the future Queen of France. The Duchesse de 
Brabant- ordered an entirely new trousseau for her so 
that she might be dressed as magnificently as if she 
had been her own daughter, and having arranged all 
this she went to Amiens, where she was joined by 
Isabeau under the care of the Duchesse de Hainault 
and her uncle, Friederich of Landshut. 

The fair of Amiens, which took place every year 
was one of those mixtures of amusement and devotion 

9 



ii4 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1385 

so characteristic of the Middle Ages. The relic, which 
they declared to be the head of St. John the Baptist, 
had been brought from the siege of Constantinople 
by the Crusaders in 1 204 ; and given by a gentleman 
of Picardy to the church of St. Jean d'Amiens, of 
which one of his brothers was a canon. It was always 
shown at the time of the fair, to which all classes 
came in crowds. One can form no idea of the 
splendour and picturesqueness of these mediaeval 
fairs from the squalid spectacles that survive in our 
own days. 

For what do we see now? Uninteresting but 
harmless crowds, mostly clad in cheap, tasteless 
imitations of the dress of a higher rank, pressing 
into shows which one cannot imagine anybody 
wishing to see, surrounding long rows of monoto- 
nous booths filled with ugly, commonplace goods that 
one cannot imagine anybody wishing to buy, commit- 
ting no crimes and molesting nobody. But although 
very few modern fairs in civilised Europe offer any- 
thing worth buying or seeing, they were widely 
different in the Middle Ages. In many towns impor- 
tant fairs took place every year to which people went 
properly attended and protected, and where beautiful 
and valuable things of all kinds were to be sold. 
There the merchants brought jewels, embroideries, 
and costly stuffs from Italy and the East ; pictures, 
illuminated missals, stamped leather, rich carvings 
in wood and ivory ; delicately wrought cups, flagons, 
bowls, and other precious works of the gold and silver 
smiths ; weapons of war, objects of art, and curiosities 
of every description. All sorts of shows and diver- 



O u D 



] CHARLES VI. AND IS A BEAU BE B AVI ERE 115 



sions were also going on all day and far into the night, 
which was the time the King and court usually went. 
It was a wonderful sight : the fitful glare of torches 
thrown here and there on the booths loaded with 
costly wares, while mingling in the throng around 
might be seen gleaming armour, magnificent dresses 
of silk and velvet, leather jerkins, tall caps, and 
peasants' coarse woollen gowns and tunics ; dark 
gabled houses forming a shadowy background. Now 
and then a fierce quarrel would arise, and there would 
be a rush and scuffle of armed men, the glitter of 
swords and daggers, shouts, cries, the fall of some and 
the dash of others down the dark, narrow streets 
which afforded their best chance of escape. The 
most famous of the old French fairs were the Foire 
de Lendit, or Landit, held between Paris and St. 
Denis, and perhaps the most ancient of all, 1 the fairs 
of St. Denis and St. Germain, which belonged to the 
Abbot and monks of St. Germain-des-Pres, and was 
held in the celebrated Pre-aux-clercs, a great meadow 
or open space going from the Abbey to the Seine. 
The fair of Amiens was a great resort of all classes at 
that time, and when Isabeau with her uncle, Duke 
Friederich, and the Duchesse de Brabant arrived at 
its gates the town was thronged with people. The 
King was there with his court and a great array of 
nobles and ladies, besides numbers of ecclesiastics, 
merchants bringing their goods on long trains of 
mules, bourgeois and peasants, wandering minstrels 
and soldiers, so that the whole place was a scene of 
bustle, excitement, and festivity, which may well have 

1 " Antiquitez de Paris," t. i. p. 667. De Sauval. 



n6 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1385 

delighted a young girl scarcely out of childhood 
longing for all the pleasure and magnificence so soon 
to be laid at her feet. For the King, ever since his 
uncles had shown him the portrait of Isabeau had 
not ceased to torment them to let him see the original, 
and as soon as he heard that she was really close at 
hand he sent two of his favourite chevaliers, the 
Seigneurs de la Riviere and de la Tremoille, to receive 
and conduct her with her relations and suite to the 
lodgings prepared for them, and assure them of his 
eagerness for the interview which had been arranged 
to take place on the following day. 

The Duchesses and Isabeau were delighted at 
all they heard from the two chevaliers of the King's 
anxiety and impatience, which promised well for the 
success of the plan ; the beauty of Isabeau being 
far too striking to leave much doubt of the effect 
it would produce on a romantic, impressionable lad, 
who had already fallen in love with her picture. 

The next day, Friday, the young princess was 
magnificently dressed, the Duchesses of Burgundy, 
Brabant, and Hainault, presiding at her toilette, 
after which she went with them to the King's 
reception. 

Charles, who had lain awake all night thinking 
about her, turned eagerly towards the door as Isabeau 
entered, and all eyes were fixed on her with interest 
and curiosity as she passed through the throng of 
courtiers. It must have been a trying moment for 
her, though if she felt nervous she did not show it, 
but only stood in silence before the King, who hastily 
prevented her, as she was about to bow or kneel 



1385] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE B A VI ERE 117 



before him, and raised her up with passionate admira- 
tion. All the evening he could not take his eyes 
from her, and after she had left and the reception 
was over no one felt any doubt of the result. The 
Duke of Burgundy told La Riviere, who was going 
with the King to his room, to find out while he was 
undressing what he wished to be done. Charles 
replied : " Tell my uncle, the Duke of Burgundy, to 
make haste and conclude 
the affair." * 

The Duke of Burgundy 
therefore went to the lodg- 
ings of the Duchesse de 
Brabant and Princess Isa- 
beau, and the arrangements 
were concluded. The Duke, 
at the council, wished the 
wedding to be at Arras, but 
the King declared he would 
not have any more delay, as 
he could neither sleep nor 
rest. He sent the Princess 

a splendid crown, and the wedding was celebrated 
at the cathedral of Amiens a few days afterwards, 
in presence of the whole court, and followed by 
banquets and various festivities, which lasted for 
some days. The wedding was so hurried on that 
there was no time to finish the trousseau ordered 
for the young queen. 2 And thus were two spoilt, 
self-willed children of fourteen and sixteen placed 




" Chronique de Flandre. 
Froissart. 



n8 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1385 

at the head of what, in those days, was the most 
powerful kingdom in Christendom. 

Many people who have a slight acquaintance with 
French history picture to themselves Charles VI. as the 
miserable invalid he became in later years, and know 
nothing about the tall, handsome young Prince, high- 
spirited, passionate, generous, and as eager for glory, 
as fond of pleasure, magnificence, and love-making, 
as his great-grandfather and grandfather the Kings 
Philippe and Jean, and his great uncle, Duke Philippe 
d'Orleans. To their own father, the sickly, studious 
Charles V., who hated riding, war, and rough games, 
but in whose reign, nevertheless, the English invaders 
were driven out of France and the French navy 
re-established ; neither Charles VI. nor his young 
brother Louis bore the slightest resemblance, except 
that Louis had inherited, with the beauty and gallant 
grace of the Valois, the love of books, art, and study, 
which distinguished Charles V. 1 By far the most 
brilliant of the two brothers, he had been, at the time 
of his father's death, too young to give much indication 
of what he would turn out like ; indeed about the 
only details mentioned respecting him are his beauty 
and the admiration it excited at the last great 
pageant of court, 2 where just before his mother's 
death the Emperor was so splendidly received and 
entertained ; and the devout way in which he used 
to say his prayers, kneeling before the image of the 
Virgin. But the hasty, impetuous temper of Charles, 
his incapacity for any serious study, his excitable, 

1 Christine de Pisan. 

2 "La Vie politique de Louis de France, Due d'Orleans," Jarry. 



[1385 CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 119 

unstable temperament, his passion for pleasure and 
display, had been an anxiety and grief to his father, 
who recognised in the boy all the qualities, attrac- 
tions, and faults of his race, which had already been 
so fatal to France. In fact, as it often happens, the 
lad was everything his father did not want him to be, 
and Charles V., as long as he lived, used every means 
in his power to counteract the tendencies which he 
considered so dangerous. He forbade any love- 
stories to be told to the Dauphin, and when on one 
occasion one of the gentlemen of his household dis- 
obeyed this order, dismissed him. 1 He gave him 
the best tutors that could be found, and tried to 
influence and educate him by constant supervision. 
At the earliest age his tutor observed his delight 
in anything that had to do with war, and his father, 
probably seeing that he would never make a scholar 
or statesman, and thinking that he might perhaps 
become a great leader and soldier, encouraged this 
taste. One day he showed him the royal treasury 
of crowns, jewels, and objects of inestimable value, 
telling him to choose whatever he liked for himself. 
The child looked around and pointed to a sword 
which hung up in a corner of the room, and which 
was given to him accordingly. Some days after- 
wards, at a state banquet, the King caused to be 
placed before him a soldier's casque and a magni- 
cent crown of gold and precious stones, asking which 
he would like best — to be crowned King with the 
one, or to wear the other amidst the dangers of war. 
Without hesitation the Dauphin replied, " Monseigneur, 

1 Christine de Pisan. 



i2o PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1385 

I like the casque better than the crown." This 
answer delighted the nobles, who, amidst acclama- 
tions of loyalty, swore to serve and defend the boy 
whenever he should become their King, after which 
Charles V. ordered the casque and sword to be hung 
up by the Dauphin's bed, and a little suit of armour 
and weapons to be made for him, 1 that so gallant 
a spirit might be encouraged. If Charles V. and 
Jeanne de Bourbon had lived to look after their 
sons it seems most likely that the ruin and misery 
which fell upon them and upon France might have 
been averted. 

For many years Charles V. had felt sure that his 
life would not be a long one ; but his hope was that 
the Queen, who had good health, would survive him 
and would be guardian to the children, her brother, 
Loir's de Bourbon — called " the good Duke Louis " 
— being always at hand tc help her. After the 
irreparable calamity of her death, and finding his 
own health rapidly breaking up, he did what he could 
for his children by making the Due de Bourbon 
guardian to the young King and his brother, and 
by preventing the Due d'Anjou, who, as the eldest 
of his brothers, had to be regent, from having more 
power than he could help. The Dues de Berry and 
Bourgogne were also joined in the government of 
the country and the young princes. With many 
misgivings he entreated them to carry out his direc- 
tions and to bring up the King properly ; nearly his 
last words to them on the subject having been, 
" Soignez-le, Dies freres, et prenez grande attention de 

1 " Chronique du religieux de St. Denis," t. i. p. 25. 



1385] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 121 

le bien former a la royaute, car V enfant est jeune et 
de r esprit leger." J 

Those princes did nothing of the kind. It is true 
that the Princess Catherine was given into the sole 
charge of her grandmother, the old Duchesse de 
Bourbon, who since the Queen's death had lived 
a saintly life at the convent of St. Marcel ; but 
Charles and Louis were brought up together at the 
hotel St. Paul in an atmosphere of flattery, folly, and 
corruption, which was eventually fatal to them both. 
The three brothers of the late King were eager to 
secure for themselves all the power and wealth they 
could seize, and would not listen to the Due de 
Bourbon, who, as personal guardian only, and not 
a brother of the late King, had less power and could 
not oppose them. The lives led by the two boys 
were what in our own days would be called fast 
for a man ten years older, and eventually resulted 
in the madness of Charles and the death of Louis. 
The aim of their uncles was to keep them ignorant, 
so that the reins of government might remain as long 
as possible in their own hands. In this they only 
partly succeeded, as Louis was very clever and fond 
of study, but Charles hated books, application, or 
restraint of any kind. They both rode well and 
were good at all sorts of games and sports, and 
the people, who had respected Charles V. and 
adored Jeanne de Bourbon, now bestowed all their 
affection on their young King, who was called 
Charles le Bien-Aime. To the end of his un- 
fortunate career he never lost either this name or 

1 Froissart. 



122 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1385 

the affection of his people, for although he was hot- 
tempered and imperious, so that he would never bear 
the slightest opposition, he was brave, open-handed, 
kind-hearted, and had those free, pleasant, courteous 
manners that go farther in gaining friends — everywhere, 
but most especially amongst the lower classes — than 
a host of benefits and virtues. He was very faithful 
and affectionate to his friends, never forgot the names 
of the humblest people, 1 but was always polite and 
ready to talk to any one about anything. 2 And 
amidst the roughness and cruelty of the times it is 
interesting to come upon the note of a sum paid to 
Colin le serrurier for an iron fleur-de-lis to hang upon 
a stag, which had been hunted by the King, had 
taken refuge in a stable at Choisy, and had been 
allowed by him to return to the forest — an example 
of mercy which might well be placed before many 
people in the present day who ought to be civilised 
enough not to require it. 

The King's marriage and the beauty of Isabeau 
delighted the people, and if she had possessed the 
sense, talents, and good qualities of other queens 
whose histories have been recorded in these volumes, 
a great career would indeed have been open before 
her. Advised and supported by the Due de Bourbon 
and the old friends and counsellors of Charles V., 
she could have retained her influence over the King 
and held the reins of government when they dropped 
from his hands. The voice of the nation would have 

1 " Relig. du St. Denis." 

2 " Comptes de l'hotel de la reine Isabeau de Baviere. Douet d'Arcq, 
" Archives de 1 'empire." 



1385] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE B AVI ERE 123 



been with her, for it was weary of the oppression and 
cruelty of the princes ; and most of the fierce feuds 
and bloodshed that came from the incapacity and 
vices of all the chief members of the royal family 
need never have happened. 



CHAPTER II 

i 385-1 389 

The Royal Family and Court of France — Birth and death of Charles 
and Jeanne de France — Dress and amusements— The Abbey of St. 
Denis — Knighthood of the King of Sicily — The ball — The Duchesse 
de Berry — Valentine Visconti. 

WHEN Isabeau arrived at the French court 
the chief members of the royal family were 
the King, his brother Louis, Comte de Valois, and 
Due de Touraine, who, though only fourteen, was 
already a soldier, having fought at the King's side 
in the battle of Rosebecques, in Flanders, when he was 
scarcely twelve years old, wearing a small suit of 
armour he had insisted on having made on purpose ; 
and the little Princess Catherine, 1 who lived with 
her grandmother at St. Marcel but came often to 
Vincennes and the other palaces of her brother. 
Next in rank were the two uncles of the King, the 
Dukes of Berry and Burgundy, who, with the Due 
de Bourbon, were now regents and guardians of the 
King and kingdom, for the Due d'Anjou had been 

1 The Princess Catherine died in childhood. 
124 



1385] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 125 

adopted as her heir by Giovanna, Queen of Naples 
and Sicily, and had left France for his new inheri- 
tance two or three years before. Chief among the 
princesses were the famous Queen Blanche of 
Navarre, widow of Philippe de Valois, the King's 
great - grandfather ; Blanche, Duchesse d'Orleans, 
widow of Philippe, the King's great uncle, and 
daughter of Charles IV., the last king of the elder 
Capetienne House ; and Marguerite, Duchesse de 
Bourgogne, the heiress of Flanders, wife of the last 
Capetien and the first Valois Dukes of Burgundy. 1 
In the case of the two last-named princesses, Charles 
left his young wife at Creil when, a few days after 
their wedding, he started for Flanders to make war 
upon the contumacious city of Gand, or Ghent. He 
returned in September and conducted the Queen 
to Paris ; but they did not then make a state entry 
into the capital, as was usual on such occasions. 

Although the majority of the King had been fixed 
at fourteen years by his father, who considered a boy 
at that age a less objectionable ruler for France 
than the Dukes of Berry and Burgundy ; they had 
managed to keep the government in their hands 
until now. But Charles was exceedingly tired of 
their interference and strongly urged on by Louis 
and Isabeau, resolved to get rid of them. He 
observed one day to his brother : " Beau frere, il est 
temps que je gouverne comme a fait mon pere, et je ne 
veux souffrir uiie Fautorite et volonte des beaux oncles 

1 It is true that the Valois were strictly speaking Capetiens also ; but 
the elder line are generally known as the Capetiens and the younger as 
the Valois Dukes. 



126 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1386 

de Berry et Bourgogne le peuple aussi trop fort sen 
plaint et souffre de leurs faits" J And shortly after- 
wards he informed his two uncles, much to their 
consternation, that he intended for the future to 
govern his own kingdom. But he took care to 
keep with him his uncle Louis, Due de Bourbon, 
whom he loved. The frank, loyal, affectionate, and 
sympathetic nature of the Duke, his chivalrous 
tastes, and the really paternal care with which he 
had watched over his nephews, had won their warmest 
affection 2 ; and now that his influence was no longer 
weakened by their other uncles, immediate reforms 
were the result of his wise counsels. Taxes were 
reduced, certain corrupt officials dismissed, a truce 
of three years was made with the English, the trusty 
Juvenal des Ursins was made provost of Paris, and 
all these measures were received with unqualified 
approval throughout the kingdom. 

The extravagance of the court, and especially of the 
royal family, prevented any improvements of this 
kind from lasting long. No queen before her had 
ever been consumed by such a passion for dress, 
luxury, and pleasure, as Isabeau de Baviere ; never 
had such boundless extravagance been seen, even at 
the brilliant court of the Valois.3 Towards the end 
of September of the year after the marriage of Charles 
and Isabeau, a son was born to them at the chateau 
de Beaute, the favourite resort of Charles V., on the 
edge of the forest of Vincennes. The birth of the 

1 Froissart. 

2 " Dues de Bourbon et Comtes de Forez," J. de la Mure. Notes, 
Steyert. 3 Brantome. 



1387] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 127 

Dauphin was, as usual, received with acclamations, 
and proclaimed by couriers all over the kingdom. It 
was also usual on such occasions that the King and 
Queen should endow churches, remit taxes and debts, 
and distribute alms to the poor. But they did none 
of these things, and when, shortly after, the little 
Dauphin Charles died, every one said that was the 
reason, especially as during all that autumn there 
were frightful storms, and it was said T that many 
crows had been seen flying about, dropping hot ashes 
from their beaks on the thatched roofs of barns, of 
which many were set on fire. 2 

It was the eve of the Holy Innocents when the 
Dauphin died, and he was carried that night by torch- 
light, with a grand procession of nobles, to St. Denis, 
and buried there in the chapel of his grandfather, 
Charles V. A daughter was Isabeau's next child, 
born at the Louvre in 1387. She was called Isabelle, 
and married Richard II., King of England. In 1388 
was born a second daughter, Jeanne, at the Maison 
Royale de St. Ouen, a Vheure de prime. She died in 
infancy. 

In his interesting study of Isabeau de Baviere, 
M. Vallet de Viriville says that in the portrait 
painted of her in 1383 we see a young girl "qui 
rayonnait (T innocence : telle elle etait sortie des mains 
de runiversel auteur" 3 and goes on to ask by what 
means she could have fallen from such a height to 
such a depth of infamy. But it seems improbable 

1 Relig. de St. Denis, trad., Bellaguet, t. i. livre vii., p. 459. 

2 Juvenal des Ursins. 

s " Isabeau de Baviere, etude historique," Vallet de Viriville, p. 8. 



128 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1387 

that this description could ever have applied to 
Isabeau de Baviere. Except that she was remarkably 
beautiful, we hear very little about her childhood. 
The chroniclers of her father's court indeed said that 
she possessed admirable beauty, elegant manners, and 
exquisite virtue. But at the time this was written, 
Isabeau was probably twelve or thirteen years old; 
and could hardly have done any great good or harm. 
During her whole career, beginning at the day when, 
at fourteen years old, she became Queen of France, 
there does not seem to have been any great difference 
in her way of going on ; by which we may gather that 
she was one of the sort of women one meets every 
now and then who are always surrounded with a 
turmoil of quarrels, discredit, and difficulties caused 
by themselves, into which everybody who goes near 
them is sure to be drawn. We meet them in novels, 
we meet them in history, we meet them in real life ; 
and when we do, we know that there will be no more 
peace till they are gone. But, fortunately, we do not 
meet them as powerful and irresponsible rulers, like 
Isabeau de Baviere. And we can perhaps imagine 
what a calamity such a head of society was for 
France. 

Inordinately vain, selfish, capricious, too shallow 
either really to love or hate, extravagant and yet 
avaricious, with no sense and no scruples, this young 
girl, scarcely out of childhood, not knowing a word of 
French, and having been brought up in the distant 
castle of a Bavarian noble, was suddenly placed at the 
head of the court of France, the gayest and most 
splendid in Europe, with every one at her feet, her will 



1387] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 129 

supreme except for the nominal control of a dissipated, 
extravagant boy only two years older than herself, 
and very much in love with her. Isabeau began by 
introducing many foolish and exaggerated fashions in 
dress which, with all their richness, had neither the 
grace nor the distinction of the costume of the last 
two or three reigns. For instance, she increased the 
height of the tall headdresses called hennins so enor- 
mously that those who wore them could not get 
through the doors without stooping ; some of them 
also had horns. Very long pointed open sleeves were 
worn, large wide sashes of silk or cloth of silver, and a 
surcot, which was a sort of garment something like a 
chasuble. Sometimes the surcots had slits and open- 
ings to show the dress underneath, of which the 
preachers loudly complained. These surcots had been 
worn in the former reigns. Dogskin and chamois- 
skin boots and gloves lined with fur were also worn. 
One of the court costumes was a surcot open at the 
sides and a corsage of cloth of gold. 1 Evening dresses 
were worn for the first time open at the neck and bosom, 
and arms were no longer blazoned upon the robes. 

As to men's dress, the Valois had made a great 
change about the middle of the fourteenth century. 
Long tunics were quite done away with, and they 
now "wore short doublets and justaucorps reaching to 
the knee, hoods with long points hanging down to the 
loins, round or pointed hats with plumes and brims 
looped up behind, cloaks with scolloped edges, open 
in front or behind, chausses, a kind of stockings of a 

1 " Comment discerner les styles, le costume et la mode du viii. au 
xix. siecle," L. Roger- Miles. 



i 3 o PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1387 

different colour for each leg and sometimes with soles 
to them instead of shoes. Shoes were still worn with 
points to the toes. 1 

The doublets and justaucorps were of silk or velvet, 
and sometimes padded with wadding so as not to 
wrinkle ; and worn with jewelled girdle, dagger, and 
purse. They cut their hair short, and wore pointed 
beards. Charles VI. wore short jackets with large 
sleeves and short tunic. One of the most costly, 
fashionable, and, it would seem, comfortable garments 
was the houppelande, worn both by men and women. 
This was an enormously long trailing robe or mantle 
with loose sleeves, made of cloth, silk, or velvet, and 
trimmed with fur and rich embroideries ; high collar 
and gold chains. 2 It had not hitherto been customary 
for the King himself to take part in the games and 
sports which were the delight of the court, but Charles 
who had of course as Dauphin been too young to ride 
in joustes and tournaments, had no idea of being for 
ever deprived of his favourite amusement, but dis- 
tinguished himself in the lists like the other young 
chevaliers of his court. 

The King's uncles (brothers of Charles V.) were, as 
has been before observed, most deplorable guides and 
guardians to their nephews and France. The Due de 
Bourgogne was by far the best, as he had many noble 
qualities, and his overwhelming pride and ambition 
were at any rate not unsuitable to a great soldier and 
the most powerful prince in France. The favourite 
son and brother of the two last kings, he had stood 

1 " Comment discerner les Styles," etc. L. Roger Miles. 

2 Ibid. 



1387] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 131 

by his father's side at Poitiers at thirteen years old, 
fighting to the last, had been carried prisoner with 
him to England, and had been rewarded by the 
promise of the duchy of Burgundy, which was accor- 
dingly conferred on him by his brother, Charles V. 
At the coronation of his nephew, he had insisted on 
taking precedence of his elder brother, the Due 
d'Anjou, much to the indignation of that prince ; as 
he contended that the duchy of Burgundy made him 
the premier peer of France. He had married the 
heiress of Flanders, widow at eleven years old of 
Philippe de Rouvre, Due de Bourgogne, and with that 
haughty and determined princess he lived on terms 
of such unbroken affection and confidence as to be the 
wonder of the court. He was much influenced by her, 
and, unlike most of the princes, no illegitimate child 
was ever recognised as his. 1 

The Due de Berry, without the great qualities of 
his brother, was greedy after money, and a cruel 
oppressor of the people, but he spent what he wrung 
from them with royal magnificence in art, literature, 
splendid palaces, and a great household. 

The Due d'Anjou was the handsomest of the 
brothers, and the most unpopular, for he was just as 
cruel and extortionate as the Due de Berry, and did 
not spend his money in Paris, but hoarded it up with 
a view to providing the means of securing that Italian 
kingdom of which he had always been dreaming, and 
to which every one in France rejoiced when he had 
gone. But he died in 1385, and his widow, Marie de 
Bretagne, Queen-dowager of Sicily, was now at Paris 

1 " Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne," t. ii. p. 161. Barante. 



132 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1389 

with her two young sons, Louis II. and Charles, whose 
guardian she was. 

In the early part of 1389, the Pope sent word to her 
that an attempt was being made by another claimant 
to get possession of the kingdom of Sicily. She went 
at once to her nephew, asking for help, which Charles 
was always ready to give on an occasion of this kind, 
and before the young King of Sicily and his brother 
started for that country he resolved to give a magni- 
ficent fete in honour of their knighthood. 

Great were the preparations for this ceremonial. 
Proclamations were made and invitations issued all 
over France, England, and Germany. It was arranged 
that the fetes should be at St. Denis, the place around 
which have gathered for centuries the grandest, holiest, 
and most solemn associations of the history of France. 
Founded in 630 by Dagobert, the splendid church was 
restored and decorated by its great Abbot, 1 Suger, in 
1 140. There, according to pious tradition, were trans- 
ported and buried the remains of St. Denis the 
martyr, there hung the oriflamme, the flame-coloured 
banner which had so often led the chivalry of France 
to victory, there w T ere the tombs of the kings, queens, 
and royal family from Dagobert downwards, there, at 
the feet of Charles V., was soon to be laid the hero 
Du Guesclin. The splendour of the treasure of St. 
Denis, which had delighted the eyes of the Emperor 
Charles IV., was unsurpassed. Gold and silver 
statues, crucifixes, and altar plate set with precious 
stones, books covered withhold and silver, written in 
letters of gold and ornamented with gems, gorgeous 

1 De Sauval, &c. 



1389] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 133 

vestments, royal crowns of gold and jewels, the golden 
sceptre and sword of Charlemagne, the hand of justice, 
golden spurs, and coronation robes, all were in the 
keeping of the Abbot of St. Denis, who was indepen- 
dent of any other jurisdiction, and one of the greatest 
nobles in France. Pope Stephen III. granted to the 
monks of this great house the privilege of electing one 
from their number to be consecrated Bishop and 
receive the power of exercising all episcopal functions 
in the abbey. The Abbots of St. Denis were also 
permitted to wear the ring, mitre, and crozier, and the 
pontifical vestments when they celebrated mass, 
which on certain high festivals was sung in Greek. 
From the kings they had the right to pardon 
criminals, coin money, and hold fairs and markets, and 
to sit as councillors in the parliament of Paris. Their 
right, recognised by Louis le Gros, to the country of 
the Vexin, gave them the oriflamme, 1 which belonged 
to it, and the war-cry of their feudal castle, " Montjoie 
Saint Denis" was the war-cry of France. 

Those delightful and invaluable historical works, 
the " Grandes Chroniques de France," were written 
by the monks of St. Denis ; of whom one used to 
be chosen by the abbot to go about with the court 
on purpose to write them. After the invention of 
printing they were arranged and printed by the 
Benedictine Jean Chartier, 1496. 2 

1 "Grand Dictionnaire Historique : pere Louis Morery, pretre, docteur 
en theologie," pub. Thierry, Rue St. Jacques, devant les Mathurius, 1699, 
t. iv. This name, when quoted by some writers, is spelt " Moreri." 

2 With this account of St. Denis in mediaeval France, let us com- 
pare the following account of it in modern France : — 

" Most of these persons were still drunk, with the brandy they had 



134 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1389 

The ceremony of conferring knighthood was one 
of the most interesting and characteristic of the 
many spectacles of the Middle Ages. In a former 
volume relating to the French court were described 
the magnificent fetes given by Philippe le Bel on the 
occasion of the knighthood of his three sons and the 
young Princes of Burgundy, the fame of which had 
spread all over Christendom. Charles and Isabeau 
determined that there should be no falling off either 
in the splendour or the diversions of those they were 
about to give. During the seventy-six years that 
had elapsed between those festivities and the ones 
now in question, wealth and luxury had greatly in- 
creased, there was more general cultivation and no 
gloomy figure severely moral and remorselessly cruel 
cast a shadow, like Philippe le Bel, upon the universal 
rejoicing. 

swallowed out of chalices — eating mackerel on the patenas ! Mounted 
on asses, which were housed with priests' cloaks, they reined them 
with priests' stoles ; they held clutched with the same hand communion- 
cup and sacred wafer. They stopped at the doors of dram-shops ; 
held out ciboriums : and the landlord, stoup in hand, had to fill them 
thrice. Next came mules high-laden with crosses, chandeliers, censers, 
holy-water vessels, hyssops ; recalling to mind the priests of Cybele, 
whose panniers, filled with the instruments of their worship, served at 
once as storehouse, sacristy, and temple. In such equipage did these 
profaners advance towards the Convention. They enter there, in an 
immense train, ranged in two rows ; all masked like mummers in 
fantastic sacerdotal vestments ; bearing on hand-barrows their heaped 
plunder — -ciboriums, suns, candelabras, plates of gold and silver. . . . 
Not untouched with liquor, they crave to dance the Carmagnole also 
on the spot : whereto an exhilarated Convention cannot but accede. 
. . . Several members, quitting their curule chairs, took the hand of 
girls flaunting in priests' vestures, and danced the Carmagnole along 
with them. Such Old-Hallowtide have they in this year once named 
of Grace, 1793" ("French Revolution," Carlyle, vol. iii. p. 193). 



1389] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 135 

The Queen, the ladies of the court, and princes of 
the blood, were to lodge in the abbey itself, which 
was well suited to receive them. The refectory was 
of enormous size, with two naves divided by a 
colonnade, the windows were filled with the most 
gorgeous stained glass and the tables were of stone. 
In the cloister was an ancient fountain thirty-six 
feet in circumference, with sculptured figures from 
heathen mythology, and over it a vault raised on 
sixteen columns, mostly of marble, which had been 
put there by Hugues VI. the forty-second abbot, 
1197. 1 

A huge wooden hall was built for the occasion in 
the courtyard of the abbey. It was covered with 
white outside, lined with white and green and deco- 
rated with tapestries and cloth of gold. In it was a 
large dais,- and outside a place for tournaments with 
wooden galleries for the ladies to look on at the 
spectacle. On Saturday, May 1st, about sunset, the 
King arrived, and soon after the Queen of Sicily in 
an open car accompanied by the princes of the blood, 
her two sons, the King of Sicily, then about twelve 
years old, and his brother rode by her side in long 
grey robes without any gold or ornament, carrying 
pieces of the same stuff rolled up on their saddles as 
if for a journey, after an ancient custom of esquires. 
They escorted their mother to the abbey and then 
proceeded to the priory de l'Estree, where they un- 

1 " Au cloistre d'icelle maison royale se voit un bassin de fontaine 
fort ancien et admirable pour estre grand et d'une piece, et releve tout 
a l'entour de figures qui representent quelques fables des dieux paiens " 
(Pere du Breul). 



136 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1389 

dressed and bathed. At nightfall they went to 
salute the King, who took them to the church, where 
they put on the dress of knighthood. It was of red 
silk lined with vair, long robes and mantles down to 
the ground, but no covering on the head. Then a 
great procession was formed, a cortege of nobles 
going before and behind the young King of Sicily, 
who walked between the Dukes of Burgundy and 
Touraine, and his brother, who was accompanied by 
the Due de Bourbon and Pierre de Navarre, Comte 
de Mortaigne. 

After prayers before the holy relics the procession 
returned w T ith the same state to the great banquet, 
after which the King went to bed and the King of 
Sicily and his brother returned to the church to pass 
the night in prayer and watching before the altar 
according to the ancient usage. But young as the 
children were, and tired with the journey and the 
fatigues of all these ceremonies, it was evident that 
they would not be able to sit up all night in church 
saying prayers, so after a little while they were 
fetched away to rest until daybreak, when they had 
to go back ; and later in the morning came the 
imposing function in the church. It was crowded 
with the courtiers and nobles, all the monks were 
also present, and when the rest were assembled a. 
door was opened out of the cloisters and two of the 
chief esquires of the King's household appeared 
carrying drawn swords and golden spurs, and fol- 
lowed by the King himself in his royal robes and 
mantle, accompanied by the two young princes. 

Immediately after came the Queens of France and 



1389] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 137 

Sicily with their ladies. A solemn mass was then 
sung, at the conclusion of which the bishop ap- 
proached the King, and the two boys knelt before 
him and demanded admission to knighthood. The 
King received their vows, girded on their swords, and 
commanded M. de Chauvigny to put on their spurs, 
the Bishop gave them his blessing, and the picturesque 
and touching ceremony was at an end. 

Every one returned to the abbey, where there was 
a grand banquet, in fact two, for the monk of St. 
Denis who gives the account of it says that they 
dined and supped in the banqueting hall with the 
King and court and then danced all night. 

It may interest some people to know that a grand- 
daughter of the elder of these boys was the famous 
and unfortunate Marguerite d'Anjou, wife of Henry 
VI., King of England. 

For four days and nights joustes and tournaments 
went on, at which the Queen gave away the prizes ; 
followed by banquets and balls. The court was in a 
frenzy of excitement and the fetes ended with a 
masked ball more splendid than any, but so licentious 
and disorderly that of the brilliant crowds that 
thronged the torch-lighted halls and wandered in the 
dim,, tapestried galleries and rooms of the great 
abbey, it has been asserted that few escaped the 
perils of that night of wild, lawless revelry ; and the 
monk of Saint Denis declares that the scenes 
enacted there desecrated the holiness of the place. 1 
A liaison between Isabeau and her brother-in-law 

1 "lis souillerent la saintete de la maison religieuse " ("Relig. de 
St. Denis," liv. x. p. 599). 



138 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1389 

the Due de Touraine was said to be one of the 
results, and it has certainly been the general opinion 
that whether or not it originated on that occasion, 
there could be only one explanation to the relations 
which from that time until the death of the Duke 
continued to exist between them. 

It is true that M. Jarry T in his interesting work on 
Louis d'Orleans observes that this has never been 
proved, and that M. Vallet de Viriville makes the 
same remark ; but he adds " Tout le dit, rien ne le 
prouve. Louis, due d'Orleans, etait le vice aimable. 
Pour cette fille d'Eve, si prete a faillir et trop aisee a 
charmer, il eut la seduction du Tentateur." z Louis 
was one of the handsomest, most fascinating, and 
most dissipated men in France, and his liaisons were 
innumerable. It was said that he wore a magic ring, 
and that as long as it was on his finger no woman 
could resist him. It was, in fact, a reproach made 
by his enemies that he wore it in the Holy Week. 
Between such a man as this and a woman like 
Isabeau, can any one believe that the most constant, 
intimate, and unrestrained companionship was likely 
to be of a different nature from what was universally 
believed ? 

It may here be remarked that the order of knight- 
hood did not in itself confer the right to raise a 
banner. - This privilege belonged only to such 
gentlemen as bore the rank of "chevalier banneret" 
and owned enough land to enable them to support it. 
The others were called " chevalier bachelier " and bore 

1 "Vie politique de Louis de France," &c, Jarry. 

2 " Isabeau de Baviere," Vallet de Viriville, p. 13. 



1389] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 139 

a pennon or small pointed flag, whereas the banner 
was square. If a chevalier bachelier were raised to be 
a chevalier banneret, he had first to prove that his 
property was sufficient to qualify him for that 
dignity. When Sir John Chandos, after having long 
held high military command, though not a knight 
banneret, asked the Black Prince for the right to 
raise a banner, he said, " Thank God I have enough 
and to spare in lands and in inheritance to keep up 
that rank as it is fitting." 

The next thing of importance that happened at 
court was a most absurd marriage made by the Due 
de Berry, which, however, seems to have turned out 
very well. 

There was a certain Eleonore, daughter and heiress 
of the Comte de Comminges, who had married the 
son of that Comte de Boulogne et d'Auvergne, to 
whom those two provinces had fallen after the death 
of the young Philippe de Rouvre and the end of the 
Capetienne house of Burgundy, which, as will be 
remembered, took place in the reign of Jean. 

The marriage of Eleonore de Comminges turned 
out unhappily, so she resolved to leave her husband, 
whose prodigality and neglect she could not bear 
any. longer, and take refuge with her uncle, the 
Comte d'Urgel, who was a son of the King of 
Aragon. Taking her only child, a girl of three years 
old, she contrived to escape out of the dominions of 
her father-in-law and journeyed south towards those 
of her uncle. On the way she passed near Orthez, a 
castle of the famous Gaston, Comte de Foix, who was 
a cousin of hers and of whom she asked hospitality. 



140 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1389 

Now Gaston Phoebus was that Comte de Foix 
whose deeds have been described in the life of 
Blanche de Navarre. He was separated from his 
wife, the Princess Agnes of Navarre, who had gone 
back to her own family. He was supposed to have 
stabbed his only legitimate son in a fit of rage, and 
he now lived with several illegitimate sons and a 
mistress who was one of the chief causes of the 
departure of the Princess Agnes. 

But he was a man of many and varied talents ; 
passionately fond of music, a great soldier, an 
excellent governor of the province entrusted to him 
by Charles V., and a powerful ally and friend to any 
one he liked. He received his cousin with great 
kindness and affection and into his ears she poured 
the history of her wrongs ; her anger against her 
husband and her resolve to obtain the restitution of 
Comminges, her inheritance, which had been wrong- 
fully seized by the Comte d'Armagnac. As to her 
husband, she said, " he cares nothing about it, he is 
trop mal chevalier, all he cares for is to eat, drink, and 
waste his property ; if he got Comminges he would 
only sell it for his follies, and besides, I cannot live 
with him. With great trouble I have taken and 
extracted my daughter out of the hands and country 
of my husband's father, and I have brought her to 
you to ask you to be her guardian and take care of 
her. Her father will be rejoiced when he knows she 
is with you, for he told me he had doubts about her 
birth." 

Gaston de Foix, who seems to have taken a fancy 
to the child, willingly agreed, and his cousin con- 



1389] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 141 

tinued her journey, leaving the child, who was from 
that time brought up by him as his own daughter in 
his castle. 1 

The Comtesse d'Auvergne occasionally came to 
see her daughter, but she always lived with her 
adopted father. At the time we are now concerned 
with, the Due de Berry, who was a widower, and 
nearly fifty years of age, attracted by the riches and 
beauty of the child, now twelve years old, wanted to 
marry her, much to the disapprobation of the King, 
who thought it ridiculous. " Bel oncle," he said, " what 
can you want with a child {une fillette) like that ? 
She is only twelve years old and you are fifty ! It is 
absurd for you to think of such a thing. Ask for 
her for my cousin Jean, your son, who is of a proper 
age for her ; the affair would be much more suitable 
for him than for you." 

To which the Duke replied that he had already 
done so, but the Comte de Foix would not hear 
of it, as, by his late mother, Jean descended from 
the Comtes d'Auvergne, whom he hated ; and that 
if the child were too young the marriage could 
remain a form for three or four years, until she was 
grown up. 

The King laughed, again advised him not to 
proceed with the matter, but said that as he persisted 
he would see to it. Therefore he sent Bureau de la 
Riviere to treat with the Comte de Foix, to whom 

1 " Madame et cousine, je fairay volontiers ce dont vous me priez. 
Car j'y suis terms par lignage, et pour ce vostre fille ma cousine je 
garderay, et penseray bien d'elle comme si ce fust ma propre fille . . ." 
(" L'Art de verifier les dates," t. 10, p. 145). 



142 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1389 

the Duke gave 3,000 francs for his care of the young 
girl, who was quite ready to be Duchesse de Berry, 
did not care a bit for the age of the Duke, but was 
delighted to marry so exalted a personage as the 
King's uncle. The Comte de Foix sent her with an 
escort of five hundred lances, she was met by five 
hundred more with litters, chariots, and splendid 
dresses sent by the Due de Berry, to whom she was 
married amid much festivity in presence of her father 
and other great nobles. And thus was an aunt of 
twelve years old added to the youthful royal family 
of France. 

The Due de Berry was delighted with the little 
Duchess, so were the King and Queen ; she became 
an immense favourite at court, seems to have got 
on extremely well with the Duke and to have 
thoroughly enjoyed herself in her new life. She 
always expressed her gratitude to Bureau de la 
Riviere for bringing about her marriage, and, as 
will be seen later, he had every reason to congratulate 
himself that he had done so. When, after many 
years, the Due de Berry died and she married again, 
she was not happy with her new husband and soon 
left him. 

Just after this marriage came that of Louis, Due 
de Touraine with Valentine Visconti, daughter of 
Gian Galeazzo Visconti and Isabelle de France, and 
consequently cousin both to the King and Queen. 
For it will be remembered that the Queen's mother 
was a Visconti ; while Isabelle de France was that 
little daughter of King Jean who was married so 
much against her will to Gian Galeazzo Visconti, but 



1389] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 143 

who had lived in Italy in great magnificence and 
honour ; for the Visconti were delighted with the 
alliance, and the birth of her daughter (who was also 
granddaughter to the King of France) was received 
with great rejoicings all over the dominions of her 
father-in-law. Isabelle died in 1373, and Valentine 
was for a long time the only child of her father, 
as none of Isabelle's three sons grew to manhood, 
and when, seven years later, he married Caterina 
Visconti, no children were born to them for eight 
years. Valentine, therefore, was a great heiress, and 
was sought in marriage all over Europe. But 
Gian Galeazzo, a quiet, rather shy man of studious 
tastes, always surrounded with ecclesiastics and 
learned men from all countries, would not part with 
the daughter who was his constant companion. For 
Valentine was clever and fond of learning, she read 
and spoke Latin, French, and German, and shared 
in the literary pursuits of her father and the cultivated 
circle in which they lived. A mysterious and sinister 
reputation hung over Gian Galeazzo Visconti. He 
was said to carry his researches beyond the lawful 
limits of human knowledge. It was whispered that 
the death of his uncle, Bernabo Visconti, might be 
traced to a subtle poison administered at his instiga- 
tion, 'and what at that time caused even more terror 
than that of poison and assassination was the suspicion 
of sorcery that clung to him and attached itself 
afterwards to his daughter and even his son-in-law. 
In spite of the roughness, cruelty, and callousness 
prevailing in those days north of the Alps, the 
French regarded the Italians with feelings of mingled 



144 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1389 

fear, curiosity, and admiration. The glory of Italian 
art, the splendour of Italian cities, the superior 
comfort and luxury of life in those immense palaces 
in that delicious climate, the fearful deeds done in 
the dungeons of the Italian tyrants, the learning and 
wisdom of the scholars and students who pored by 
day over books and manuscripts and watched the 
heavens from tower and loggia on starry, southern 
nights, who knew how to read their future from 
the stars and to destroy their enemies with a ring 
or a bunch of flowers ; all this took firm hold on 
the imagination of their northern neighbours, and 
made them look upon Italy as a land full of romance, 
mystery, and supernatural dangers. 

Valentine was twenty years of age when, in 1386, 
her father consented to her betrothal to the brother 
of the King of France. The marriage was much 
desired by the French as, besides Valentine's 
enormous fortune, it would bring back to France 
the county of Vertus, the dowry of Isabelle, and 
also give her Asti, a whole province of towns, villages, 
and castles, which would be a footing for the French 
in Italy. 

It was not until the summer of 1389 that Valentine 
left her father on her journey to France. It was 
afterwards reported at Paris that the Duke of Milan 
said to her, " Fair daughter, when I see you again 
I trust you will be Queen of France ; " but this is 
probably untrue, more especially as Gian Galeazzo, 
who had kept her as long as he could, rode with her 
out of the gates of Pavia and then turned, without a 
word of farewell, and rode silently back, not daring 



1389] CHARLES VI. AMD ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 145 

to look once more into her beloved face. In the 
saddest of her tragic life Valentine remembered with 
tears that silent parting. 1 

The King, Queen, Due de Touraine, all the princes 
and the whole court were waiting at Melun, where 
the marriage was celebrated with suitable magnifi- 
cence and much festivity. Valentine fell deeply in 
love with the Due de Touraine, although he was five 
years younger than herself. She was not remarkably 
handsome, but very attractive, and in spite of the 
perpetual infidelities of Louis her devotion to him 
never changed, and she also lived on good terms 
with the Queen, notwithstanding the disposition of 
Isabeau to entertain for her a jealousy which might 
well have been reversed. Isabeau was then eighteen, 
in the height of her beauty, the idol of the court and 
people, all the more as she was again enceinte, and 
the hopes of every one were fixed on the birth of a 
Dauphin. 

Valentine was as superior to Isabeau as light to 
darkness. Ambitious, cultivated, with brilliant in- 
tellectual powers, strong both to love and hate, brave 
and gentle, no shadow of reproach rests on her 
name. 

The King took a great fancy to her and used to 
call her his beloved sister. She and Louis seem 
to have got on very harmoniously and affectionately 
together on the whole, by which one must conclude 
she must have been a woman of extraordinary tact 
and patience in some matters. 

She brought with her a most gorgeous trousseau of 

1 "Valentine Visconti," Mary Robinson, Fortnightly Review. 
II 



146 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1389 

clothes and jewels ; amongst her many dresses was 
a scarlet one sewn thick with pearls and diamonds, 
and a cap of scarlet and pearls for the hair ; another 
of gold brocade with sleeves and headdress of woven 
pearls. 1 

1 " Valentine Visconti," Mary Robinson, Fortnightly Review. 




CHAPTER III 

i 389-1 392 

State entry of Isabeau into Paris — Magnificent fetes — Southern tour of 
Charles and Louis — Bad health of Charles — Bonne d'Artois and 
Jean de Clermont — Dreadful storm — Birth of Dauphin — Death 
of Blanche, Duchesse d'Orleans — Pierre de Craon and the 
Constable de Clisson — Madness of the King. 



ALTHOUGH it was now four years since her 
marriage with Charles VI., Isabeau had never 
been crowned ; and although she had of course often 
been in Paris, she had not made any ceremonial entry 
into that city. 

But she had no idea of giving up the honours 
usually conferred on the Queens of France ; and the 
King, always delighted at the idea of any new festival, 
made inquiries as to how these state entries had 
been arranged in the times of his predecessors, so 
that nothing might be wanting in magnificence on 
the present occasion. 

There was one member of the royal family who 
147 



148 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1389 

was considered a great authority on these and many 
other matters. The famous Blanche de Navarre, 
although she had been Queen-dowager for forty-one 
years and was the widow of the King's great-grand- 
father, Philippe de Valois, was only about fifty-nine 
years old, had been in her youth the brightest star 
of the Valois court, and all her life one of the most 
brilliant, powerful, and popular women of her century. 1 
To her Charles applied for advice, and into her hands 
he gave authority to regulate every detail of the whole 
ceremony. She consulted the records kept at St. 
Denis, and from those and her own recollections she 
arranged one of the most splendid pageants known to 
history. 

The Queen went from Melun to St. Denis, where 
she stayed two days until the royal family and court 
were assembled. On Sunday, August 17th, at mid- 
day, the procession started for Paris. Isabeau, dressed 
in a silk robe covered with golden fleur-de-lis, was in a 
gorgeous open litter, followed by Queen Blanche, the 
Duchesses of Burgundy, Berry, and Bar, the Comtesse 
de Nevers, and the Dame de Coucy, all in their 
litters. The royal dukes on horseback surrounded 
the Queen's litter, and among them rode Valentine, 
Duchesse de Touraine, on a horse covered with 
trappings embroidered with gold. Each litter was 
escorted by a troop of cavaliers, and burghers dressed 
in red and green, and mounted on horses with 
trappings of the same colours, lined the road from 
St. Denis to Paris, from the gates of which issued 

1 Blanche de Navarre. " Lives of the Early Valois Queens," to 
which this volume is a sequel. 



1389] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 149 

a brilliant crowd, shouting, " Vive le roi ! Vive la 
reine ! Noel ! Noel ! " 

The cortege entered Paris by the Porte aux Peintres 
into the rue St. Denis, which was draped from top to 
bottom with crimson and green covered with gold 
stars. At every turn was some new spectacle. As 
Isabeau entered Paris she passed under an artificial 
sky, with clouds, stars, the three Persons of the 
Trinity, and a troop of children dressed like angels, 
two of whom descended singing a verse in her 
honour, and placed a crown of gold and jewels on 
her head ; and as she passed over one of the bridges 
which had been covered with silken curtains, they 
were suddenly divided, and a man with another 
crown flew down a cord from the tower of Notre 
Dame, and flew up again with a lighted torch in each 
hand, which, as it was already getting dark, could be 
seen by all Paris. Wine was flowing all day and 
night from fountains and taps in the streets and 
carrefours ; in open-air theatres plays and " mysteries " 
were acted, the houses were hung with rich stuffs and 
costly tapestries. The procession had stopped at St. 
Lazare, where the Queen put on her crown and the 
princesses and duchesses their coronets, the princes 
of the blood and nobles dismounting and ranging them- 
selves by the litters of the Queen and ladies ; then 
proceeding to Notre Dame they entered the church, 
made a short prayer, and went on to the Palais de la 
Cite, where they supped. 1 

Next day the King in his royal robes, scarlet 
mantle glittering with jewels, and crown on his 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis " ; Froissart. 



150 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1389 

head, entered the chapel of the Palais. The Queen, 
also covered with scarlet and jewels, and with her 
hair flowing on her shoulders, knelt before the altar, 
saluted the King, mounted on to a high dais covered 
with cloth of gold, and was anointed and crowned 
by the Archbishop of Rouen. 1 

Then there was a splendid fete in the great hall of 
the Palais de la Cite, the most ancient of all the 
palaces of the Kings of France. This hall was con- 
sidered one of the largest and finest in the world. It 
was paved with black and white marble and panelled 
and vaulted with wood, rows of columns went down 
it, decorated with gold and blue and adorned with the 
statues of the Kings of France ; those who were dis- 
tinguished and fortunate having their hands raised, 
while the hands of those who were bad rulers, weak, 
or unlucky hung down. At one end, going right down 
it, was an enormous table, so long, so wide, and so 
thick that it was said that never were there such huge 
blocks of marble as those of which it was composed. 
It stood there for hundreds of years, and was used for 
great banquets. At it dined only Emperors, Kings, 
and other Princes and Princesses of the blood royal, 
peers of France and their wives; the rest of the nobles 
and courtiers sat at other tables. This huge table 
was also used as a stage for the clercs de la Basoche 
for their plays and mummeries during two or three 
hundred years. 2 

It was very hot, and there was a great crowd at the 
joustes and banquet, the Queen and several of the 

1 " Relig. de St. Dennis," liv. x. p. 615. 

2 " Antiquitez de Paris." De Sauval. 



1389] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 151 

ladies nearly fainted. The King ordered a barrier 
to be broken down to let in air, and the tables with- 
drawn (" levees ") to let them go out " without wine 
or spices" (dessert). 

The King, who took no part in the entry, which 
was in honour of the Queen alone, had nevertheless 
managed to amuse himself very well, and had seen 
the whole spectacle in disguise. " Savoisy," he said 
to his chamberlain, " I want you to get on a good 
horse, and I will get up behind you ; we will disguise 
ourselves so that no one will know us, and go and see 
my wife's entry." I 

They mingled in the crowd, seeing and hearing 
much that diverted them, and the King afterwards 
told the Queen and ladies all his adventures with 
great delight. 

Some of the ladies left and went to their own hotels 
when the King and Queen retired, but many remained 
all night, and the next morning the Queen and court 
moved to the hotel St. Paul, where the revels went 
on for six days more, with a license that again 
called forth the reproaches and indignation of the 
preachers. 2 

Splendid presents were given by the City of 
Paris and by different people to the Queen and 
the Duchesse de Touraine, whose first appearance 
among them had excited great curiosity and interest. 

1 "Savoisy, je te pris taut que je puis, que tu montes sur un bon 
cheval et je monterai derriere toi et nous nous habillerons tellement 
qu'on ne nous connoistra point et nous allons voir l'entree de ma 
femme." 

" Relig. de St. Denis," liv. x. p. 609 ; also Juvenal des Ursins 
and Froissart. 



152 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1389 

The Due de Berry gave Isabeau a large house in the 
faubourg St. Marcel, with courts, galleries, moats, 
gardens, meadows, and a rabbit warren. 1 

The fatigue and excitement of all these gaieties 
seem to have told upon her, for she could not be 
present at a banquet and dance given by the King 
to the ladies of the court during the festivities at 
St. Paul, but stayed in her room and supped there. 

She did not accompany the King when early in 
October he set off on a journey south. He had 
received great complaints from Aquitaine 2 of the 
oppressions and extortions of the Due de Berry, 
and he also wanted to attend the coronation at 
Avignon of the young King of Sicily. The Queen 
being enceinte could not take a long and tiring 
journey, besides which it is more than probable 
that Charles on this occasion greatly preferred her 
absence. For his progress through Provence, Guyenne, 
and Languedoc, though ostensibly for political objects, 
such as the extinction of the schism at Avignon, the 
coronation of the King of Sicily, and the reforma- 
tion of the abuses in Aquitaine, had also its social 
side. There, in the land of troubadours, poetry, 
and courts of love, where the sun was burning and 
the nights were bright, where the imagination was 
more vivid and the hot blood of the south ran 
quicker through the veins, where manners and 
morals were easy and had a tinge of orientalism 
derived from contact with the East ; the progress 
of the young King from one town to another was 
a saturnalia of dancing, feasting, love-making, and 

1 De Sauval. 2 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. x. p. 627. 



1389] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAUDE B A VI ERE 153 

violent exercise in games and tournaments, which 
for the first time seem to have taken visible effect 
upon him. 

Some symptoms he must have felt which troubled 
and alarmed him, for while at Avignon he caused an 
effigy of himself to be made life-size in wax and 
placed under a tabernacle close to the relics of the 
young Cardinal Pierre de Luxembourg, of saintly 
reputation, to whose tomb people were flocking to 
be cured of epilepsy and other maladies. 1 

There was no royal post at that time ; it was not 
instituted till the reign of Louis XL Charles sent a 
courier to the Queen two or three weeks after his 
departure, to ask for news of her ; he was then in 
Dauphine, and from that time until his return in 
March she seems to have had no more letters or 
communications from him. 2 

During his absence another daughter was born and 
named Jeanne, like the first one. Isabeau had now 
two daughters still living. This second Jeanne after- 
wards married the Due de Bretagne. 

M. Vallet de Viriville says of Isabeau that although 
frivolous, capricious, and fantastic, she seems to have 
been liked by her ladies, and was certainly just as 
fond of her children as other women usually are. 
While they were little she had them always with 
her, caressed and watched over them, wept and 
prayed when they were ill, and redoubled her lamen- 
tations when any of them died. Her neglect of them 
a little later on, however, seems to contradict this ; but 

1 "Archives de l'Art Francois, 1858,'' p. 342 et suivantes. "Isa- 
beau de Baviere," Vallet de Viriville. 2 Ibid. 



154 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1390 

then Isabeau was a person so inconsistent and selfish 
that neither her affection nor her dislike could ever 
be reckoned upon ; and her extravagance and folly 
was the cause of the penury to which the royal 
children were at one time reduced. Her quarrels 
with her sons in later years were long after they 
had passed childhood ; with those of her daughters 
who lived to grow up she does not seem to have 
disagreed. 

The Queen and the Duchesse de Touraine had 
been left together at Beaute by their husbands 
when they started for the south. 

After an absence of several months, spent as has 
been described, those young princes turned their 
steps northwards again. When they arrived at 
Montpellier the King told his brother that he felt 
so impatient to see the Queen and Duchesse de 
Touraine again that he could not wait any longer, 
but proposed that they should race back to Paris ; 
a bet of 5,000 francs to be paid to the winner. 
Louis agreed, and they set off, riding day and 
night, changing horses very frequently and being 
carried in litters when it was absolutely necessary 
to take a little rest. The race was won by Louis, 
who got on to a boat at Troyes and went down 
the Seine to Melun, thus getting rest all that part 
of the way. At Melun he disembarked and rode 
on to Paris, where he arrived some hours before 
the King, having done it in four days and a half. 

Louis went straight to see the Queen, and then 
presented himself before his brother and claimed 
the 5,000 francs. 



1390] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 155 

This adventure does not seem to have done Louis 
any harm, but it was declared by the doctors to have 
been most injurious to Charles, and to have helped to 
over-excite and unsettle his brain. 

The King returned from his southern tourweakened, 
exhausted, and very angry with all he had found out 
about the oppressions and cruelties of the Due de 
Berry. He had held a Parliament at Toulouse 
punished some of the officials, dismissed others, and 
tried to redress some of the worst grievances. But 
though Charles was generous and kind-hearted, 
neither he nor his brother nor any of his uncles, 
except the Due de Bourbon, had any idea how to 
govern, and the latter was entirely opposed to the 
Dukes of Berry and Burgundy ; so much so, indeed, 
that a melancholy romance was the result of their 
dissensions. 

The youngest daughter of the Duke of Burgundy 
had been, in 1386, betrothed to the Comte de Cler- 
mont, son of the Due de Bourbon. But they were too 
young at the time for the marriage to take place, and 
meanwhile the quarrels of their families caused it to 
be broken off. They appear, however, to have been 
deeply attached to each other, for Bonne de Bour- 
gogne, or, as she is named in her epitaph, Bonne 
d'Artofs, declared that she would have no other 
husband that the Comte de Clermont, and, after 
refusing every other alliance suggested to her, died 
at Arras, 1399. The Comte de Clermont also re- 
fused to marry any one else as long as she lived. 1 

The Queen was again enceinte, and the court were 

1 " Histoire des Dues de Bourbon, Comtes de Forez," La Mure. 



156 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1390 

at Saint Germain-en-Laye for the summer. Money 
was wanted, as usual, for the extravagant follies of 
the royal household, and in spite of the compassion 
of the King for the suffering of the people, it was 
proposed to levy new taxes. 

It was a calm, cloudless day in July ; the 
Council was sitting, the King presiding, and the 
Queen had gone to mass in her private chapel, 
when suddenly the sky became black with 
clouds, forked lightning flashed through the dark- 
ness accompanied by awful claps of thunder, 
and a violent wind tore the windows from 
their hinges and shattered all the panes of glass 
in the Queen's Chapel. Mass had to be finished 
low and hurriedly lest the Host J be torn out of 
the hands of the officiating priest, the palace seemed 
to shake, and everybody was prostrate with terror. 
The Queen went trembling to the King, saying 
that this was an expression of the anger of God 
for their oppression of the people, and they had 
better give up the new taxes. The Council was 
dismissed accordingly and the taxes abandoned. 
Many trees were torn up in the forest, and four 
officers of the royal household killed by the light- 
ning. 2 Isabeau had always the greatest terror of 
a thunderstorm ; she had a vaulted cellar under the 
Palais de la Cite on purpose to take refuge in on 
those occasions.3 

The much longed for Dauphin was born on the 

1 Juvenal des Ursins, p. 83. 

2 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xi. p. 685. 

3 " Antiquitez de Paris," De Sauval. 



1392] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 157 

6th of February, 1391, at the hotel St. Paul. The 
King was asleep, for it was in the middle of the 
night, but the tidings were soon brought to him 
and to all Paris, which was at once plunged into 
a tumult of rejoicing. The bells of all the churches 
were ringing, couriers were starting for all parts of 
the kingdom, the streets were filled with people and 
torches, and set with tables covered with wine and 
food at which stood ladies of the highest rank, 
offering them freely to all who passed. 

The Dauphin was baptized next day in the church 
of St. Paul, his god-parents being Blanche, Duchess- 
dowager of Orleans, the Duke of Burgundy, and 
Comte de Daumartin. 

In the following May was born, also at the hotel 
St. Paul, the eldest son of Louis and Valentine. He 
was also named Charles. The Due de Bourbon was 
his godfather. He afterwards married the Princess 
Isabelle, eldest daughter of Charles VI. 1 

The Duchess-dowager of Orleans, Blanche de 
France, died in February, 1392, after a long and 
painful illness. She was greatly respected and 
honoured, and her funeral at St. Denis was attended 
by the whole of the royal family and court. She 
was daughter of Charles IV. and Jeanne d'Evreux, 
and, as she on one occasion remarked to King 
Philippe de Valois, if she had been a man she would 
have been king instead of him. She was proud, 
high-spirited, and so charitable that she had given 
away nearly all her fortune before she died. 2 

1 " Hist, de la maison de France," Sainte-Marthe, t. 1. p. 675. 

2 " Relig. de St. Denis.," liv. xiii. p. 63. 



158 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1392 

The King gave the duchy of Orleans to his brother 
instead of that of Touraine. 

A conference was held at Amiens between the 
Dukes of Lancaster and York, uncles of Richard 
II., and the French King with the Dukes of Burgundy 
and Berry. The four dukes entered Amiens riding- 
side by side so as to avoid questions of precedence. 
It was remarked that the English dukes were dressed 
with great simplicity in cloth of greenish brown, 
while the Duke of Burgundy had his clothes covered 
with pearls, rubies, and sapphires. They could not 
agree on terms of lasting peace, so they arranged 
a truce for a year longer, and then separated. But 
Charles, who, during the whole fortnight had not 
troubled himself at all about the negotiations, but 
passed the time in feasting and amusements, had 
made himself very ill with an attack of fever and had 
to be taken in a litter to Beauvais, where he stayed in 
the bishop's palace till he was well again. 1 

Amongst the constant companions of the King and 
the Due d'Orleans was a certain Pierre de Craon. 
He was a particular favourite of Louis, they often 
dressed alike, and Craon was the confidant of all the 
duke's love affairs, which were innumerable. There 
was a girl in Paris whose beauty he had for some 
time admired and to whom he had offered 1,000 
crowns if she would consent to become his mistress. 
She appears to have been hesitating about the matter, 
and meanwhile, Louis took Craon to see her. Craon 
had the rashness to go and tell the whole story to the 
Duchesse d'Orleans, with the result he might have 

1 Froissart, t. xiii. c. 27, p. 45. 



1392] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 159 

expected. Valentine was very angry and sent for 
the girl, who appeared before her trembling with 
fear. 

" Well," said Valentine, " so you wish to take 
monseigneur away from me ? " 

" No, no, Madame, God forbid," answered the girl, 
beginning to cry, " I should not dare even to think of 
such a thing." 

" That is true," said Valentine, " I know all about 
it. Monseigneur loves you and you love him, things 
have even gone so far that he has offered you 1,000 
crowns, but you have refused and you have done 
well. For this time I forgive you, and I forbid you, 
as you value your life, to have for the future anything 
to do with monseigneur. Dismiss him." x 

The girl retired, thankful to have escaped so well, 
and the next time the Duke called she fled from him, 
refusing to show him the least sign of affection. 
Much astonished and disappointed he asked what 
was the matter. She began to cry and reproached 
him with having betrayed her either to the Duchess 
or to somebody else who had told her, and went on 
to say, " you had better try to recollect to whom you 
have been making confidences. I am dreadfully 
afraid of Madame la Duchesse, and I have promised 

1 " Comment ! vous voulez done m'enlever, monseigneur ? " " Nenni, 
Madame, a Dieu ne plaise ; je n'oserai settlement pas y penser." 
" C'est vrai, je sais tout et suis bien informee ; monseigneur vous aime 
et vous Paimez, la chose va meme si loin qu'il vous a promis 1,000 
ecus d'or. Mais vous avez refuse, et vous avez fait sagement. Je vous 
pardonne pour cette fois et vous defends, si vous tenez a la vie d'avoir 
desormais nul entretien avec monseigneur "(" Dues de Bourgogne de 
la maison de Valois," Barante). 



160 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1392 

and sworn never to have any communication with 
you. I am not going to excite her jealousy." 

" Ma belle dame," replied Louis, " I swear to you 
that I would rather lose a hundred thousand francs 
than betray you. Since you have promised, keep your 
oath, but at any cost I will find out who has revealed 
our secrets." 

Therefore Louis went that night to supper with his 
wife, to whom he made himself as pleasant as he 
well knew how to do. By soft words, love-making 
and persuasion he prevailed upon her to tell him that 
it was Pierre de Craon who had revealed the affair 
to her. 

Next morning he rode to the Louvre in a furious 
rage and met the King going to Mass. Charles, who 
was very fond of him, seeing his disturbed looks, 
stopped and asked what was the cause of them. 
Louis poured out his indignation to his brother, 
adding that besides this, Craon was always reproaching 
him with his love of necromancy. " To hear him," he 
said, " one would think I was a wizard. By the faith 
I owe you, monseigneur, if it were not for my respect 
for you I would kill him." 

" Do not do that," replied Charles. " I will send 
him word that I have no further occasion for his 
services and he is to leave my hotel ; you can turn 
him out of yours too." Accordingly that day the 
Sires de la Riviere and de Noviant from the King, 
and two gentlemen of the household of the Due 
d'Orleans, brought orders to Craon to retire. 

He demanded an explanation, but neither the 
King nor the Duke would see him. Unable to get 



1392] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU BE BAVIERE 161 

any information, and vowing vengeance against the 
unknown enemy, he retired to the court of his cousin, 
the Due de Bretagne, and, after consulting together, 
they came to the conclusion that it must have been 
the Constable de Clisson who had done this, and 
resolved to avenge themselves on him. 

Pierre de Craon therefore returned secretly to 
Paris and concealed himself in his hotel, which was a 
splendid house, and which he had well stored with 
food and necessaries, and in his anxiety that his 
presence should not be known, he even took 
the precaution of locking up the wife and 
daughter of his concierge for fear they should dis- 
close it. 

On the 13th June there was a fete at the hotel St. 
Paul. There were joustes in the afternoon and then 
a supper, followed by a ball which went on until 
about an hour after midnight. 

The Constable de Clisson was the last to depart. 
He took leave of the King and Due d'Orleans, and 
then, with eight valets of whom two carried torches, 
he proceeded towards the rue St. Catherine, at the 
corner of which Craon was lying in wait for him with 
a band of forty brigands. As he rode down the 
street, on a sudden the torches were snatched from 
his men and thrown to the ground. Clisson thought 
it was a trick of Louis d'Orleans and called out, "By 
my faith, monseigneur, this is too bad, but I forgive 
you because you are young and think of nothing but 
jokes." But to his astonishment the answer was, 
" A mort ! a mort Clisson ! Si vous faut mourir" as 
Craon drew his sword and with the gang of assassins 

12 



162 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1392 

attacked the Constable, who, after defending himself 
desperately, was flung from his horse against the 
door of a baker's shop which gave way and he fell 
down two steps into the house. The baker and his 
people rushed out to pick him up, and the assassins, 
most of whom only now discovered that they had 
been hired to murder the Constable of France, fled in 
terror. Craon rode for his life through the Porte 
Saint Antoine, gained his own castle of Sable, and 
from thence got safe to Bretagne. Meanwhile, the 
news spread rapidly through the city. The King 
who was going to bed, was just undressing in the 
hotel St. Paul, when he was told that his Constable 
had been murdered. 

" Murdered ! My Constable ! By whom ? " he 
exclaimed. 

- " It is not known, but it is close by, in the rue St. 
Catherine." 

" Torches ! quick ! " cried the King. " I shall go 
and see him." And without waiting for guards or 
suite, he threw a houppelande round him, and rushed 
out, arriving at the shop just as the Constable was 
beginning to recover his senses. He opened his 
eyes and they fell upon the young King leaning 
anxiously over him. " Ah, Constable, how do you 
feel ? " 

" Cher sire, bien faiblement et petitement." ■ 

" Et qui vous a mis en ce parti ? " 

" Sire, Pierre de Craon et ses complices, trditreuse- 
ment et sans defense? x 

1 Froissart, t. xiii. c. 28, p. 38 to 61. " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. 
xii. c. i. p. 214. Juvenal des Ursins, p. 88. 



1392] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 163 

Charles turned to the doctor who had been hastily 
called in and said, " Look at my Constable, and tell 
me what there is to fear." J Delighted to hear that 
although Clisson was covered with wounds, his life 
was in no danger, and swearing that never had a 
crime been punished and avenged as this should be ; 
Charles sent in pursuit of Craon and his companions, 
of whom some were taken and executed, but most of 
them escaped. 

The King confiscated his dominions, took posses- 
sion of his treasures, and divided his lands between 
the Due d'Orleans and some of his friends. The wife 
and daughter of Craon fled, and the King ordered the 
Due de Bretagne to give up the traitor who had 
attacked his Constable. 

The Duke pretended not to know where he was, so 
Charles assembled his troops to go to war with him, 
ordering his uncles of Berry and Burgundy to join 
him with their vassals. They both hated this project 
as the Duke of Burgundy was a great friend of the 
Due de Bretagne, and the Due de Berry, who was in 
Paris at the time, had been told of the conspiracy the 
very day it was carried out, but as he could not bear 
the Constable he said nothing about it to the King 
on pretence of not wishing to disturb the festivities 
going on at the palace. However, they were forced 
to obey the King, who would not listen to their assur- 
ances that Craon was not there at all, but in Spain. 
He threw himself into a violent passion whenever the 
matter was discussed, and seemed to be growing so 

1 '•' Regardez mon connetable, et sachez me dire ce qu'il y a a craindre, 
etc." (" Dues de Bourgogne de la maison de Valois," p. 341.) 



164 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1392 

violent and so unreasonable that all who approached 
him were filled with alarm. 1 

The weather was very hot, and Charles was in a 
perfectly unfit state to bear the fatigue and excite- 
ment of a campaign. During the whole summer it 
had been so dry that the large rivers, the chief roads 
for merchandise, had been so low that boats could 
not go on them, wells and springs were dried up, the 
parched earth cracked ; there was great distress, for no 
rain fell. 

One broiling day he insisted, in spite of the advice 
of his uncles, on leaving Le Mans with the troops. 
He was dressed in black velvet, and almost suffocated 
with the heat. 

As they were entering a wood a tall figure rushed 
out and caught his horse by the bridle, crying out 
that he was betrayed (which by the by is the typical 
exclamation of the modern Frenchman). This par- 
ticular man, however, appears to have been mad, and 
while he was raving and warning the King not to go 
further he was seized by the guards. 

Charles said nothing at first, but rode on for about 
an hour till the troop came out of the wood on to a 
sandy plain where the dust and heat were overpower- 
ing. One of the pages, who was so exhausted that 
he was falling asleep, let his spear fall against some 
one else's armour. The clang it made startled the 
King, who suddenly gave a shout and rode furiously 
forward striking at everybody. He struck down 
several men, killing four, and rushed at the Due 
d'Orleans, who fled for his life and escaped. The 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xiv. Juvenal des Ursins, p. 91. 



1392] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 165 

Duke of Burgundy rode up exclaiming, " Haro ! le 
grand meschef I monseigneur est tout devoye ! " They 
tried to catch the King, but it was most difficult and 
dangerous. However, at last a cavalier who was very 
fond of him got behind him and threw his arms round 
him. He was laid on the ground, the paroxysm 
passed off and he fell back insensible. They placed 
him in a litter, and the whole troop turned back to 
Le Mans. The expedition was at an end, and the 
King was mad. 1 

1 Froissart ; " Relig. de St. Denis," &c. 



CHAPTER IV 

i 392-1 398 

Tyranny of Duchess of Burgundy — Birth of Marie de France — Duchesse 
de Berry saves La Riviere — Doctor Hassely — King recovers — The 
masquerade — Dreadful fire — King ill — The sorcerers — King re- 
covers — Dr. Freron — King ill again — Accusations against Louis 
and Valentine— Birth of Louis de France — Betrothal of Isabelle de 
France to Richard II. of England — Their marriage — Disastrous 
crusade — Marriage of Jeanne de France to Due de Bretagne — 
Marie de France takes the veil. 

^~" V HE consternation of everybody and the con- 
fusion into which the kingdom fell can scarcely 
be imagined. The King was taken to Creil where he 
slowly improved, but was by no means fit to have 
anything to do with affairs ; indeed for some time he 
only had partially lucid intervals, and was altogether 
much weakened. 

The Queen was on the eve of her confinement, so 
the news of what had happened was obliged to be 
kept from her, in fact it was forbidden to be told her 
on pain of death. 1 The Duke of Burgundy seized 

1 " Chronique de Flandre." 

166 



1392] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 167 

the government, 1 to which he had no right, the 
Due de Berry being his elder brother, and the Due 
d'Orleans the nearest in blood to the King. But, as 
Sismondi remarks, the Duke of Burgundy was the 
least incapable of the three, and the people, who hated 
them all, made no opposition. 

The Duchess of Burgundy established herself with 
the Queen on pretence of taking care of her, and 
remained there, dictating, meddling, and taking 
precedence of every one. A daughter was born to 
the Queen very soon afterwards, and as an offering 
for the restoration of the King, Isabeau, when she 
heard of the calamity, named the child Marie and 
dedicated her to religion. 2 

Meanwhile the court was in a ferment. The King's 
uncles, directly they got the power into their own 
hands, began to persecute those of the party opposed 
to them. 3 The Duchess of Burgundy, furious against 
Clisson for causing the King to go to war with the 
Due de Bretagne, who was her cousin and great 
friend, incited her husband against him. Clisson fled 
from the country, so did several others, including the 
Seigneur de Noviant who had incurred the enmity 
of the Duke of Burgundy by refusing to give him 
thirty thousand crowns out of the treasury without 
the King's knowledge.4 He and Bureau de la Riviere, 
who had been a most intimate friend of Charles V., 
were caught, thrown into the Bastille, and condemned 

1 Froissart, xiii. c. 50, p. 102. " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xii. c. 
4, p. 221. Juvenal des Ursins, p. 91. 

2 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xiv. p. 95. 

3 Juvenal des Ursins, p. 91. 

4 Juvenal des Ursins, p. 91. 



168 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1392 

to death. But, fortunately for the latter, the little 
Duchesse de Berry, whose marriage he had arranged, 
and whom he had himself fetched from the castle of 
Gaston de Foix, had ever since that time been ex- 
ceedingly fond of him. When she heard that he was 
arrested and in danger of his life, with the Duke and 
Duchess of Burgundy resolved on his destruction, the 
Queen absolutely indifferent, and the King powerless 
to help him, she resolved to save him herself. She 
was then about fifteen years old, and she hurried to 
the Due de Berry, threw herself on her knees before 
him crying and declaring that La Riviere was falsely 
accused, that no one dared speak for him but herself, 
that he had made her marriage, for which she was 
much obliged to him, that the duke ought to feel the 
same, that it would be the deepest ingratitude to 
desert him to whom they owed their happiness, and 
that if he were put to death she would never be 
happy again, but would spend every day "en tristesse 
et douleur" z The Duke, who adored her, comforted 
her and promised that his life should be spared. He 
went to the King who, though not recovered, was in 
a state sufficiently rational to be made to understand 
and give a command, and got from him the order for 
his pardon, in which the Seigneur de Noviant shared. 
They were exiled, but later on the Duchesse de 
Berry, of whom the King was very fond, got all their 
castles restored to them. 2 The Duke and Duchess of 
Burgundy were furious, but they could do nothing. 
The Seigneur de Coucy had a celebrated doctor, a 

1 " Chronique de Flandre." 

2 Ibid. 



1392] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE B AVI ERE 169 

certain Guillaume de Hassely, 1 who at his recom- 
mendation was called in to the King, and so skilful 
was his treatment that Charles gradually improved, 
slept, ate, and drank as usual, went out hunting and 
hawking, and at last asked for the Queen and Dauphin, 
who were brought to him at Creil, where he received 
them with delight and affection. He was horrified to 
find he had killed and wounded several of his followers 
in his paroxysm. After a little he was allowed to see 
his brother and uncles, to whom Dr. Hassely said, 
" Thank God I restore you the King in good health ; 
but he must not be irritated, worried, or troubled with 
state affairs. His head is not strong yet, but it will 
get stronger ; meanwhile amusements and distractions 
are better for him than councils and work." The 
Queen and Princes were anxious to keep Dr. Hassely 
at court, but he was an old man and could not bear 
the fatigue of that life. He retired to Laon, covered 
with honours and rewards, and died soon after- 
wards. 2 

The King's uncles were very glad to persuade him 
that he was not well enough to do anything but 
amuse himself and had better leave the government 
in their hands. Charles inquired for various friends 
of his, and was told that they were traitors and in 
prison. He ordered them to be at once set free and 
their property restored, but had not strength and 
clearness of understanding to go more into the 
matter, and they were safer away from Paris. He 
sent after Clisson and tried to get him to return ; but 

1 " Chronique de Flandre." Froissart. Paradin. 

2 " Chronique de Flandre." 



170 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1392 

the Constable knew well enough that if the King 
had another attack he would fall into the hands of 
the Duke of Burgundy again, so he stayed away, 
keeping in communication with the Due d'Orleans 
and his party, who were called " Marmousets " by the 
friends of the Dukes of Burgundy and Berry. Charles 
did not think about business at all ; but only amused 
himself; and Isabeau, careless, apathetic, indifferent 
to everything but dress, luxury, pleasure, and amass- 
ing riches, for some time submitted to the domineering 
influence of the Duchess of Burgundy, which was 
vehemently resisted by the Duke and Duchess 
d'Orleans. Louis claimed the regency during the 
King's incapacity to govern, and Valentine was 
indignant at the presumption of the Duchess of 
Burgundy in taking precedence over her, the wife of 
the King's only brother and, as she imprudently 
remarked, possibly the future Queen of France. 

The King was declared to be well again the 
following winter ; he and the Queen came back and 
took up their abode at St. Paul, and the Court was 
once more in a whirl of gaiety. 

There are various records of purchases made by 
Isabeau about this time ; amongst others a gold 
goblet in the form of a rose, her favourite flower ; 
pearls to ornament the collar of the Queen's squirrel, 
a chaise a pignier or chair to have her hair dressed in, 
having a low back. Most chairs of that time had 
very high backs ; they were made low for that pur- 
pose. Also some shoes for the Queen's fool and her 
mother. And soon after it is stated that the Queen 
not having obtained money enough for divers things 



1393] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE B AVI ERE 171 

necessary and desired by her, would in future have 
her own " argentier " for herself and her children, by 
order of the King. 

It was January, 1393. The King, delighted to be 
well again and eager to catch at any new prospect of 
amusement, was told by one of the gentlemen of his 
household named De Gensay, of a disguise he had 
planned whereby people were made to look like 
naked savages or wild men covered with long hair 
like that of wild beasts, which Paradin remarks was 
" chose plaisante a veoir." These costumes were made 
of linen covered all over with tow, very long and 
combed out to look like hair from head to foot. 
They fitted tightly to the figure, and were stuck on 
"fort proprement" as Paradin again remarks. De 
Gensay proposed that the masquerade should take 
place at the wedding festivities of one of the Queen's 
ladies, who was a countrywoman and great favourite 
of hers. Now this lady had been married before, 
and at that time in France extreme licence was 
permitted at the re-marriage of a widow. 1 Speeches, 
songs, dances, and general behaviour were alike im- 
proper to a degree that, even in those days, would 
not have been allowed on other occasions. The ball 
was to take place at a large house which belonged to 
Queen Blanche de Navarre. It stood at the corner 
of the rue de la Reine Blanche, and was called hotel 
de la Reine Blanche. 2 When the King saw this pre- 

1 A curious relic of this ancient custom still survives in villages in 
the west of England, where, after the marriage of a widow or widower, 
the villagers will sometimes assemble at night outside their house blow- 
ing horns, beating drums, and making hideous noises. 

- The " Religieux de St. Denis " says this ball was at the hotel St. 



172 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1393 

posterous disguise he was so delighted that he insisted 
on being one of the six who were to wear it, the 
others being the Comte de Joliy, the ecuyer d'honneur 
de Gensay, the bastard De Foix, and the sons of 
the Comte de Valentinois and Seigneur de 
Nantoillet. 

They all begged the King to give orders that at 
the ball at which they were to appear no light of any 
kind should be allowed to approach them on account 
of the inflammable nature of these absurd costumes. 
Charles accordingly sent a proclamation ordering all 
lights, torches, and flambeaux to retire behind and 
far from six savage men who were to enter the saloon 
where the ladies were. Unfortunately the Due 
d'Orleans had not been told of the intended 
masquerade, of which indeed no one knew but those 
who were to take part in it, those who dressed them, 
and the Queen. The Due d'Orleans arrived at the 
ball after the proclamation about the lights, and just 
then the six savages entered the room all fastened 
together with cords except the King, who led them. 
The novelty of this ridiculous spectacle was so 
successful that everybody crowded round to see them 
and try to find out who they were, and in their 
excitement forgot all about the order respecting the 
lights. The King left his companions fastened 
together, and, passing before the Queen, went up to 
the young Duchesse de Berry and began to make 

Paul ; but Juvenal des Ursins, who from his position at Court was 
certain to have known where it took place, and was most likely himself 
at the ball, declares it was at the hotel de la Reine Blanche, we will 
therefore accept his authority, which De Sauval considers conclusive. 



1393] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 173 

love to her {luy faisant infinies caresses). She caught 
hold of his hand, saying that she would not let him 
go until she knew who he was. Just at that moment 
the Due d' Orleans, also desiring to find out who the 
mummers were, snatched a torch from one of his 
pages and held it down close to them so as to see 
better — the dry tow caught fire, in a moment they 
were all in flames and being fastened together, they 
could neither escape nor could any one help them. 
The Duchesse de Berry, when she saw the whole 
place on fire, threw her long robe round the King 
and so saved him. The Queen, seeing the flames, 
hearing the dreadful cries and tumult, and knowing 
that the King was one of the six, fell fainting with 
terror. The young De Nantoillet managed to un- 
fasten himself from the others, and happening to 
remember a tank or cistern of water in one of the 
rooms of service close by, used for washing the plate, 
rushed into that room, threw himself into the tank, 
and was saved ; of the rest, De Gensay (the inventor 
of the mummery) and Charles de Poitiers, son of the 
Comte de Valentinois, were burnt to death on the 
spot, and the other two only survived their injuries 
for two days. There was a general cry of " Save the 
King ! " but the Duchesse de Berry, hastily exclaiming, 
" Go and change your clothes at once, the Queen is in 
terror about you," had hurried him out of the ball-room. 
Isabeau was carried fainting to her room, where 
Charles, having pulled off the fatal disguise, hastened 
to reassure her. Every one was accusing and blaming 
the Due d'Orleans, who, nearly beside himself with 
horror and remorse, and crying out that he had done 



174 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1393 

it and it was all his fault, fled out of the ball-room and 
rushed up to the apartments of the King and Queen. 1 
The Dukes of Burgundy and Berry had left the 
ball before the arrival of the mummers, finding it 
rather late, and had returned to their own hotels. 
They knew nothing about what had happened until 
the next morning, when there was a great outcry all 
over Paris, and the report reached their ears that 
there had been a great fire after they had left the ball 
and that the King had been burnt to death with the 
others. Even after they had ascertained the truth 
the people would not believe it, but insisted on seeing 
the King for themselves, and it was not until he had 
gone in public procession with his brother and uncles 
to Notre Dame to give thanks for his safety, that 
they were pacified ; and when they found out in 
what an idiotic way the King's life had nearly 
been sacrificed they broke into denunciations of the 
goings on at court and threats against the princes of 
the blood. Some people even declared that Louis 
d'Orleans had done it on purpose, hoping to destroy 
the King and thus have the chance of succeeding 
himself if the Dauphin, who was delicate, did not live 
to grow up ; which, by the by, would certainly have 
come to pass, for he died before he was ten years old. 
But there is not the slightest proof or even probability 
of the truth of this accusation. With all his faults 
Louis was not capable of so monstrous a crime as 
this, even supposing he had not been, as he always 

1 Froissart, t. xiii. c. 32, p. 240. " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xii. c. 9, 
p. 255. Juvenal des Ursins, p. 93. Monstrelet, t. i. pp. 312 and 423. 
Also Barante, " Dues de Bourgogne," t. ii. p. 197. 



1393] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 175 

appears to have been, on affectionate terms with his 
brother. 

The catastrophe excited the greatest horror in the 
minds of everybody except the tenants and people 
belonging to the Comte de Joiiy, who was so out- 
rageously tyrannical and cruel that they were all 
delighted when they heard that they were so un- 
expectedly delivered from him. 

The late calamity seems to have had a sobering 
effect upon the court, and for a little while after this 
shock things went on more quietly. But in June the 
King had a relapse, and this time he was worse, or at 
any rate the aggravated symptoms lasted longer. 
He did not recognise the Queen, and when she came 
near and spoke to him affectionately would ask who 
she was and even seemed to take a dislike to her, and 
told those surrounding him to take her away for he 
did not know what she wanted. He declared that he 
was not King, that his name was not Charles but 
George, that his arms were a lion pierced with a spear 
and not the fleur-de-lis, the very sight of which threw 
him into a rage, and which he would try to efface or 
tear out of tapestries, plate, or anything upon which 
they were. He declared he was not married and had 
no children, and the only person he knew was the 
Duchesse d'Orleans whom he insisted on seeing every 
day, and called " ma sceur bieri-aimee!' People began, 
as usual, to talk about sorcery. Some said it was to 
witchcraft that Valentine owed her influence, others 
declared that the King's illness came from his having 
been bewitched. Dr. Hassely was dead, and the 
Queen insisted on sending for a sorcerer to try and 



176 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1394 

cure him. The sorcerer or wizard was, as the monk 
of St. Denis says, " coarse, brutal, and vulgar." He 
had a magic book, which he said God had given to 
Adam, and by which he professed to be able to 
control the stars, so that if any planet had a malign 
influence on the King he could cause another to 
appear to counteract it. All the clergy, doctors, and 
professors were very angry and the sorcerer did no 
good ; some said it was folly, others, that it was sin ; 
there was a great outcry and he was got rid of. Then 
a learned doctor called Freron was called in, under 
whom Charles began to get better. All over the 
kingdom they had litanies, prayers, and processions 
followed by crowds of barefooted people ; priests in 
splendid robes going from one church to another. 
The King said he would go too, and after persisting 
several times, he went to St. Denis with a great 
cortege of nobles, heard mass, where he behaved very 
well, "dune maniere decente et sans commettre aucune 
extravagance" 1 After dinner he went away, leaving 
the Bishop of Senlis to make a neuvaine for him. 
The Queen ordered them at many churches. In 
January, 1394, he was well again. Early in the same 
month the Princess Michelle was born. 

In honour of her the King changed into " Porte Ste. 
Michelle" the name of the "Porte de l'Enfer" so 
called on account of the haunted convent of the 
Chartreux of Vauvert just outside it, with its weird 
tales of moving lights, unearthly sounds, and 
phantoms, spoken of in the former volume treating of 
the Valois Queens. 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xiv. p. 93. 



1394] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 177 

The Hundred Years' War with England still dragged 
on, and brigands again began to infest the country, 
and great distress prevailed ; to the alleviation of 
which Charles now turned his attention for a short 
time. For Dr. Freron, either finding that the treat- 
ment ordered by his predecessor had been carried 
much too far, or else because he thought quiet, and 
rational occupation with the affairs of the State would 
do the King more good than the ceaseless, reckless, 
dissipation, 1 which was the original cause of his 
illness, ordered him a tranquil life, occupation for 
his mind, rest, and various other changes which 
certainly appeared to succeed ; for the King was 
quite restored under his care, and as well as he 
had been before his first seizure. No one could now 
say that he was not capable of giving proper orders, 
nor dispute the validity of those he gave, as the Duke 
of Burgundy had done when the King had granted 
some permissions to hunt in the royal forests. 

Charles went several pilgrimages and, his own 
sufferings having made him more compassionate to 
others, he recalled fugitives chased away by the 
tyranny of his uncles, exempted them from taxation 
for six years, and, abolishing the games of chance in 
the villages, he established practice in shooting with 
the bow and crossbow, in order that the peasants 
should be able to help defend the country which now 
was obliged to hire mercenaries to oppose the English 
archers. The people were delighted at this, and 
already, says M. Sismondi, becoming so skilful that 
the nobles in alarm took the first opportunity of 

1 Sismondi. 
13 



178 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1395 

putting a stop to the archery and re-opening the 
gambling houses. The remembrance of the Jacquerie 
was naturally in the minds of the French gentlemen 
as was that of their tyranny in the hearts of the 
people. That unfortunate class hatred between the 
upper and lower ranks which, as was remarked in our 
former volume, had caused the disgrace and downfall 
of France, was still growing and establishing itself 
as time passed on, while other nations were slowly 
becoming stronger and more closely united to their 
own countrymen as they advanced in civilisation. 

The King went on very well until about the middle 
of the summer of 1395, by v/hich time he had grown 
very tired of the restraints imposed on him by Dr. 
Freron, the trouble of attending to serious affairs, 
and the comparative dulness of his court. Also it is 
probable that the symptoms of the terrible malady so 
long kept at bay by the skill of the great doctor were 
making themselves felt and deprived him of the little 
self-control and sense he had ever had. At any rate 
he dismissed Dr. Freron, who retired with his pro- 
perty to Cambrai, 1 and w T hen he had gone the frenzy 
returned and Charles was again mad. 

It had been a bad summer, with violent winds, 
doing much damage. Misfortunes and troubles 
seemed to be gathering again over France. The 
deepest disappointment was felt by high and low at 
the relapse of the King, confusion and misgovern- 
ment began again, the air was full of evil rumours 
and terrors as it had been in the years before the 
battles of Crecy and Poitiers. It was reported that 
1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xv. c. 14, p. 324. 



1395] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 179 

in Languedoc had been seen a great star, followed by 
five little ones which seemed to attack it for about 
the space of half an hour, while voices and dreadful 
cries were heard in the heavens ; and there appeared 
the gigantic form of a man who shone like copper, 
transfixed the great star with a spear and vanished. 

In Guyenne unearthly voices were heard in the air, 
accompanied by the clang of armour and the tramp 
of combatants. 1 

The court was rent by the quarrels of the Queen 
and Duchesse d'Orleans with the Duchess of 
Burgundy, whom neither of them could bear, and 
whose interference Isabeau was now roused up to 
resist. In fact, the arrogance and encroachments of 
the Burgundian party had become alike intolerable 
and alarming. The state of the King from this time 
grew gradually worse. He was not always mad, but 
his attacks grew more frequent, lasted longer, and 
took different forms on different occasions. Some- 
times even in the middle of them he would have 
lucid intervals in which his commands were absolutely 
obeyed. After a period of sanity and health, he 
could tell by the symptoms when the attack was 
coming on again, and would desire that all arms, 
knives,- &c, should be taken out of his reach, and 
sometimes that he should be forcibly restrained lest 
he should hurt any one. He begged every one he 
knew, if they had bewitched him, as some said, to 
have pity upon him and reverse the spell. The whole 
state of things was heartbreaking, and when he was 

1 Juvenal des Ursins. The " Relig. de St. Denis" relates this 
ghostly story, but places it in 1397. 



180 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1395 

mad he did not know the Queen, it was not safe for 
her to go near him, he struck at her and ran after her 
so that she fled in terror. Sometimes he knew every 
one except the Queen and her children, but one 
person he always knew, and that was the Duchesse 
d'Orleans. 

He was always calling for her. She would go to 
him without the least fear and sit with him for hours. 
Her voice seemed to have a strange fascination for 
him, and he would do anything she wished. There is 
not the slightest idea that between Charles and Valen- 
tine there was ever any such love as between Louis 
and Isabeau, but they had always been fond of each 
other as brother and sister. The populace, however, 
chose to attribute her influence to magic ; they said 
she came from Lombardy, where it was practised 
to a great extent ; that her father himself was a 
magician, and that it was from no devotional reasons 
that the Due d'Orleans went so often to the Celestins, 
but to see one of the brotherhood, a certain Philippe 
de Meziere, looked upon with suspicion on account 
of his studies, who had been a great friend of the late 
King. Louis d'Orleans would sit up half the night 
talking with him about books, music, or metaphysical 
subjects. He was a strange mixture of the most 
opposite qualities and vices, and he added to the 
inconsistencies of his character that of being ex- 
tremely devotional. In all intellectual tastes he 
and Valentine suited each other very well ; as to 
Isabeau, she knew nothing about such matters. 
There is a record of an historical manuscript which 
the Duke of Burgundy gave her, probably with the 



1395] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 181 

hope of inducing her to take more interest in literary 
subjects, but it was of no use. 1 

The injurious reports concerning Louis and Valen- 
tine were diligently circulated by the Burgundian 
party. She was said, and by many believed, to have 
bewitched the King. The monk of St. Denis re- 
marks, "Pour moi, je mis loin de partager V opinion 
vulgaire au sujet des sortileges, opinion repandue par 
les sots, les necromanciers, et les gens superstitieux ; les 
medecins et les theologiens s'accordent a dire que les 
maleftces n'ont aucune puissance, et que la maladie du 
roi provenait des exces de sajeunessel' 2 

Things, however, came to a climax at last when 
Valentine was accused of attempting to poison the 
Dauphin in order to open the way to the throne for 
her husband and children. The story was that one 
day when the children of the King and the Due 
d'Orleans were playing together in the apartments 
of Valentine some one had thrown an apple amongst 
them close to the Dauphin, who was about to pick it 
up, but that one of the children of the Due d'Orleans 
got it, bit a piece out, was taken ill, and died in a few 
days, the apple being poisoned. The only thing that 
is certainly true about this story is that a little son 
of Louis and Valentine did die about this time ; but 
whether he ate an apple shortly before his death, 
whether it was thrown among the children when at 
play, or whether there was any reason for attributing 
his death to such a cause does not seem to have been 

1 It was the " Chroniques de France." Philippe de Bourgogne, 
like all his brothers, was a collector of books, manuscripts, and objects 
of art. - " Relig. de St. Denis," t. xvi. p. 407. 



i82 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1396 

shown. It does not appear that there was a shadow 
of probability about it, but that it was nothing more 
than a spiteful calumny got up by the Burgundian 
party and believed by the fierce and credulous 
Parisian mob. However, there was a great outcry : 
the Dauphin was not allowed to go to the apart- 
ments of the Duchesse d'Orleans, and the Due 
d'Orleans and his friends thought Valentine would 
be safer out of Paris for the present. Therefore she 
left that city with her children in great pomp for 
Blois, where she remained for a time till the storm 
blew over. 

Her father, the Duke of Milan, was furious when 
he heard of these accusations against his daughter 
and himself, for he was also said to have bewitched 
the King, to have asked the French ambassador how 
he was, and on being told " well," to have exclaimed, 
" You tell me a diabolic thing, and one that is impos- 
sible. 1 The King cannot be well " — clearly pointing 
either to sorcery or secret poisoning. He offered to 
send a champion to fight to the death any man 
who accused his daughter, and threatened to invade 
France. 

In January, 1396, the Queen gave birth to a son, 
who was named Louis, and in February the King 
recovered his senses. It had been arranged that the 
little Princess Isabella, eldest daughter of Charles 
and Isabeau, should be married to Richard II., King 
of England, instead of to the son of the Due de 

1 " Diabolicum recitas et quod est impossible," Valentine Visconti, 
M. Robinson, Fortnightly Review. Gian Galeazzo bought the title 
of Duke from the Emperor, 1395. 



1397] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 183 

Bretagne, to whom she had at first been betrothed. 
Richard was thirty years old and a widower, but it 
was felt that the splendour and advantages of such 
an alliance as this, not only for the Princess, but still 
more for France, were not to be lost. The English 
ambassadors, therefore, when in 1395 they came to 
Paris, where the King was at that time living at the 
Louvre, and the Queen and her children at the hotel 
St. Paul, were received with great honour and favour, 
and having paid their respects to the Queen, they 
turned to the Princess Isabelle. The Marshal of 
England knelt before her saying, "Madame, sil plait 
a Dieu\ vous serez notre dame et Reine d'Angleterre." 
To which the pretty, graceful child, who was only 
about seven years old, replied, " Sire sil plait a Dieu 
et a monseigneur 111011 pere, je le serai volontiers ; car 
on 111' a bien dit que je serais une grande dame!' Then 
giving him her hand she raised him and led him to 
her mother. 1 

The ambassadors were enchanted with the little 
princess, who was the especial darling of her parents 
and the whole Court. All the daughters of Charles 
and Isabeau seem to have been remarkable for good 
looks and charm, and very superior to their sons. 
The second one, Jeanne, was promised to the son of 
the Due de Bretagne instead, and the marriage of 
Isabelle took place in October, 1397. 

Magnificent preparations were of course made be- 
forehand for the wedding of the eldest daughter of the 
Valois with the great enemy of her country, by which it 
was hoped to close the Hundred Years' War and restore 

1 Froissart. 



184 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1397 

prosperity to France. The King sent for the most 
skilful jewellers and ordered for her a profusion of 
rings, bracelets, necklaces, chains, and all kinds of 
jewels of great price, cloth of gold and other costly 
stuffs, covered chariots, saddles and bridles covered 
with gold and silver. He was fortunately quite well, 
and sane just then, so that he was able to attend 
his daughter's wedding. He went with the Queen, 
princes, and court to meet the King of England 
between Calais and Ardres, where the French and 
English camps were pitched near each other, the 
French one containing a hundred and twenty tents 
surrounded by a palisade, and in front a large tent 
like a great hall, more magnificent than the rest, 
over which floated the lilies of France. 

The English camp contained the same number of 
tents, but the one that stood in front of it, with the 
standard bearing the leopards of England, was like a 
vast round tower. 

The most stringent regulations were proclaimed in 
both camps to avoid the slightest danger of any 
disputes arising to endanger the harmony of the 
meeting on which hung the peace and welfare of 
two kingdoms. 

None but the immediate escorts were to be armed ; 
it was forbidden to throw stones, pick quarrels, or 
play any game that could lead to them, and the con- 
ferences went on amicably for several days, being 
disturbed only by a violent storm which tore up 
many tents in the French camp, tearing the silk 
lining of them to shreds, while only four of the 
English tents suffered. Torrents of rain fell, and 



i 3 97] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 185 

superstitious fears were entertained that some 
calamity was about to happen. " But," says the 
worthy chronicler of St. Denis, "on learning the 
result of the conference, they rather thought the 
enemy of the repose of mankind who dwells among 
the shades of darkness had thus given vent to his 
fury because he had not been able to throw any 
obstacle in the way of peace." x 

The young Queen, who had been married by proxy 
to Richard in Paris, set off for St. Denis with great 
pomp, where she performed her devotions according 
to the ancient custom, and then continued her journey. 

The King of England had been dining with the 
King of France, waited upon by the Dukes of Bur- 
gundy, Berry, and Bourbon, both monarchs having 
been much entertained by the amusing conversation 
of the last-mentioned prince, when the sound of 
trumpets and other music announced the approach 
of the young Queen of England, who entered the 
camp with a procession of surpassing magnificence, 
wearing royal robes covered with fleurs-de-lis, a 
gentleman of her train carrying a crown of gold 
before her carriage. The Duchesses of Lancaster 
and Gloucester came forward to pay their homage, 
and the Dukes of Burgundy, Berry, and Orleans 
advanced, and one of them taking her in his arms 
carried her to her father, who led her by the hand to 
the King of England, saying, " Monfils, voici ma ftlle 
que je vous avais promise, je vous la laisse, en vous 
priant de V aimer desormais comme voire femme." 
Richard II. was a most imposing personage. To 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," 1. xvii. p. 465. 



186 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1397 

the stately bearing of the Plantagenets he united 
the far-famed beauty of his mother, the Fair Maid 
of Kent. As the little Queen bent before him he 
raised her up and kissed her, after which he took his 
leave. 1 She was placed in a splendid litter in which 




she was to proceed to her husband's town of Calais, 
accompanied by the Duchesses of Lancaster, York, 
Gloucester, and other great English ladies, with the 
Dame de Coucy, who was to go with her to Eng- 
land. She began to cry and sob at parting from her 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis/' 1. xvii. p. 469 Froissart. 



1397] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 187 

father and uncles ; Charles VI., who was extremely 
fond of her, cried too, and the Dukes also shed tears. 1 
The King and Queen were married again at the 
Church of St. Nicolas at Calais, and the day after 
that embarked for England. Before going on board 
ship, finding that her French attendants were to be 
dismissed, the poor little thing began to cry again, 
and begged King Richard to let them go with her, 
to which he at once consented, so they accompanied 
her to England. 2 

An expedition had been for some time in prepara- 
tion to assist Sigismond, King of Hungary, against 
the Turks under Bajazet, who had invaded Europe 
and threatened to push on to Rome and feed his 
horse upon the high altar of St. Peter. The troop 
consisted of a thousand men, amongst whom were 
many young cavaliers of the noblest houses in France, 
led by Jean, Comte de Nevers, eldest son of the Duke 
of Burgundy, then about twenty-two years old. The 
troop was splendidly equipped, Philippe of Burgundy 
having by means of heavy taxes on his vassals col- 
lected a great sum of money with which, had he 
spent it rationally, he could have put an army into 
the field. The troop had set forth in March, and 
the luxury and extravagance of the French nobles 
astonished their Hungarian and German allies. 

1 Barante, "Dues de Bourgogne." 

2 " Les demandes du roi Charles VI. avec les reponses de Pierre 
Salmon, son secretaire et intime." " D'apres les Manuscrits de la 
Bibliotheque du Roi," p. 17. Salmon was one of these attendants. 
The Minutes of the Council contain a long list of the French members 
of Isabelle's household returning with her some years afterwards to 
France. 



188 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1397 

Their tents were of green satin, their banners and 
the trappings of their horses were covered with gold 
and silver, their armour, dresses, and plate were 
magnificent. They marched across Germany and 
joined their allies at Buda-Pesth. The army then 
marched along the banks of the Danube, upon which 
great barges accompanied them loaded with choice 
wines and delicacies for the French. 1 

But evil rumours began to be afloat after some 
time regarding the expedition, and the chroniclers 
of the time relate various supernatural occurrences 
which filled with terror the superstitious minds of 
the people. The garrisons of various fortresses in 
Guyenne were awakened in the night by the clash 
of arms. Fearing a surprise, they seized their weapons, 
and beheld a battle fought in the air by phantoms in 
the forms of cavaliers in armour, which filled them 
with dread. They sent messengers to inform the 
King, the court, and the university of these pro- 
digies, which seemed to portend divers calamities. 
" For my part," remarks the monk of St. Denis, " I 
leave the secret of all these supernatural events to 
Him who knows all and who commands the heavens, 
the earth, and the sea." 2 

But on Christmas night, 1396, when the King and 
all the court were assembled in the hotel St. Paul,3 
one Jacques de Helly entered the hall in boots, spurs, 
and all the disorder of a hasty journey, and throwing 
himself on his knees before the King, told him of the 

1 Planche, " Hist, de Bourg.," 1. xiv. c. 150, p. 147. 

2 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xvii. p. 483. 

3 Ibid. 



1397] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 189 

disastrous defeat of the French by Bajazet and the 
massacre or captivity of the whole troop. It appeared 
that the French, furious at being obliged to raise 
the siege of Nicopolis, had murdered in cold blood 
and in violation of their plighted word all their 
prisoners who had surrendered on parole, and that 
Bajazet, enraged at their treachery, had naturally 
retaliated, and having by overwhelming numbers 
defeated them and killed four hundred, had taken 
prisoners the Comte de Nevers and about three 
hundred others. He had ordered them all to be 
beheaded except twenty-eight of the highest rank, 
for whom he could exact enormous ransoms, and 
among whom of course was the Comte de Nevers. 
It was to obtain these ransoms that Jacques de 
Helly had been sent. It then appeared that some 
unfortunate fugitives had already come with the 
tidings, but had been shut up in the Chatelet to 
prevent the news being disclosed, with threats of 
being drowned if they told it. History certainly 
repeats itself. 

However, no amount of lies would now avail to 
make the Parisians think a defeat was a victory, 
besides which it was necessary again to wring money 
from the people to pay the ransoms. 

This misfortune had such an effect upon the King, 
that instead of his being all right until the summer as 
before, an attack of madness came on early in the 
spring, to cure which Marshal de Sancerre sent from 
Languedoc two Augustine monks, who had the 
reputation of being magicians. This was, of course, 
in direct opposition to the rules of the Church, but 



190 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1397 

the clergy did not exactly like to prevent their 
endeavours ; they contented themselves with mur- 
muring that it would be much better to burn them as 
wizards than to offer them rewards. In July the 
King recovered his reason, for which the monks 
imprudently took the credit, forgetting what would 
be likely to befall them should he have a relapse. 
The second daughter of Charles and Isabeau, the 
Princess Jeanne, was married to 
the son of the Due de Bretagne ; 
and the third, the Princess Marie, 
who had been dedicated from her 
infancy to the religious life, was 
now received into the convent of 
Poissy. 

On the day of the Nativity of 
the Virgin, the King and Queen, 
with a brilliant company, arrived 
at Poissy. There was a grand 
procession, the Bishop of Bayeux 
bearing a splendid jewel pre- 
sented by the King, who with 
the Queen and a brilliant cortege 
of nobles and ladies formed part of the procession, the 
Sire d'Albret carrying in his arms the Princess Marie, 
who wore a gold crown and long robe and mantle of 
cloth of gold, and whom he placed before the chapter, 
where the spiritual director of the convent addressed 
the novice, who, it must be remembered, was not yet 
five years old, and explained to her the rules of the 
order and the vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience, 
to which the child " answered humbly that she sub- 




THE PRIORESS OF 
POISSY. 



1398] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 19T 

mitted herself." The Prioress, who was a sister of 
the Due de Bourbon, and had taken the veil at this 
convent at about the age of the Princess Marie, then 
dressed her in the habit of the order, after which she 
was conducted to the church by all the nuns, singing 
hymns to the Holy Spirit. After mass she received 
the episcopal benediction, and then there was a 
splendid banquet given by the King. At the close 
of the proceedings a dispute arose between the 
Prioress and the Abbot and monks of St. Denis 
respecting the crown worn by the little princess 
which was of gold set with jewels of great price, and 
which, with the robes, jewels, &c, worn by her, the 
Prioress claimed according, as she said, to the usual 
custom, for the convent. But it appeared that this 
crown belonged to the abbey of St. Denis, and had 
been only lent for the occasion ; therefore the monks 
would by no means give it up. The King, being 
appealed to, declared the crown had been borrowed 
by his orders, and settled the matter by paying the 
convent 600 gold crowns to redeem it, and sending it 
back to St. Denis. 1 

The King and Queen arranged the household of 
the young princess, appointing certain nuns to be her 
ladies, and then returned to Paris. 

1 "Relig. de St. Denis." 



CHAPTER V 

i 398-1400 

Illness of the King — Execution of sorcerers — Birth of Jean de France — 
Death of Queen Blanche de Navarre — Household of Isabeau — 
Ludwig of Bavaria — Ancient Paris — The Queen's chateaux — 
Burgundy and Orleans — Henry of Lancaster — The plague — 
Revolution in England — The Dauphin Charles. 

IN 1398 things did not improve. The King had 
fewer lucid intervals, during one of which, how- 
ever, he went to Reims and entertained with lavish 
hospitality the Emperor Wenceslas. The two monks 
were still at the Bastille occupied with their necro- 
mancy, but as it had no effect upon the King, who 
had more attacks than ever this year, the terror they 
inspired began to diminish, while the horror excited 
by their supposed dealings with the powers of dark- 
ness remained. Seeing the danger of their posi- 
tion they tried to propitiate the Duke of Burgundy 
by laying the blame of their failure on the Due 
d'Orleans, saying that the diabolic arts he employed 
against the King were too strong for them to counter- 
act. But by this outrageous accusation against the 

192 



1398] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 193 

King's brother, they had gone too far. The Due 
d'Orleans complained, the monks were arrested and 
given over to the clergy, who delivered them to the 
provost of Paris, and they were soon afterwards 
beheaded. 

In August another son was born to the King and 
Queen and named Jean. 1 

In October died Queen Blanche de Navarre, alike 
beloved and honoured by the royal family, the court, 
and the people. The adventures of her brilliant 
youth when she shared the throne of Philippe de 
Valois, or the fortunes of her brothers, the gallant 
Princes of Navarre, have been related in a former 
volume. She had always been rich and powerful, 
but never through oppressing her subjects or vassals, 
so that they loved and venerated her as a mother. 
She was the providence of the poor and suffering, 
and a good friend to the religious houses. With 
every earthly gift and advantage, brilliant beauty, an 
irresistible fascination, distinguished talents, high 
rank and great riches, living in the midst of the most 
dissipated court in Europe, no taint of dishonour ever 
sullied her name ; she seemed, in the midst of all the 
cruelty, violence, and corruption with which she was 
surrounded, like a bright star in a dark and stormy 
sky. For fifty years she had been Queen-dowager, 
and she had been present certainly at the marriage of 
the eldest, and almost certainly at the marriage of the 
second, and the consecration of the third of the great- 
great-granddaughters of her husband. Her dowry 
reverted to the crown, her personal property, which 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis." 
14 



194 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1398 

was large, she divided between her favourite nephew, 
Pierre de Navarre, and certain charities. But as to 
the relic she left to the Carmelite Church, the worthy 
monk of St. Denis earnestly declares that she " was 
deceived by vain and lying tongues of those who 
brought it from Constantinople, for the only true and 
undoubted nail which pierced our Lord belongs to 
St. Denis and nowhere else, as is proved by the 
history of Charlemagne and by continued miracles 
which for five hundred years have been done by 
contact of that relic." 1 

The officers of her household went to ask the Dukes 
of Burgundy, Berry, and Orleans whether, not having 
been crowned Queen, her funeral was to be at St. 
Denis with royal pomp. To which (the King being 
probably ill then) they replied at once that it was 
undoubtedly to be so, and it was attended by all the 
royal family and court. 2 

The health of the King gradually grew worse. 
The attacks came oftener and lasted longer. But 
whenever they subsided, as they often did quite 
suddenly, he became sane again, resumed the govern- 
ment, went out hunting and hawking, and took part 
in everything, whether amusement or business, as 
usual. During his intervals of insanity, the Queen 
ought of course to have been a most important part 
of the government, but she cared nothing about that 
or any rational thing; what interested her were only 
the dissipations of the court, her dress, the sums of 
money and treasure she could collect, eating and 
drinking, and the constant society of Louis d'Orleans. 

1 "Relig. de St. Denis." 2 Ibid. 



1399] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 195 

The only praiseworthy or harmless tastes she had 
were a sort of natural affection for her children 
and a fondness for animals of which she had a 
good many for pets. She was also fond of music. 
Amongst the accounts of the period we find sums 
paid to the " varlet de chambre of Madame Michelle 
de France for having, during her absence at Poissy 
(probably to attend the consecration of her little 
sister) mended her gold cup which the monkey had 
broken ; to Guillaume Juvel " varlet de chambre de 
la royne" for money lent the Queen to give a poor 
man who had given her a goldfinch that would eat 
out of her hand ; also for a milch cow for Monseig- 
neur Jehan de France and for a tent for him with 
tapestries with histories on them ; for the harpist of 
the Queen and the minstrels of the Dauphin ; and for 
a large box of wood and iron with holes in it to burn 
a candle by night in the room of Madame Jehanne 
de France. Among the same accounts come splendid 
clothes for the Queen's relevailles on getting up after 
her confinement ; baths of oak ; sums for putting iron 
on two large cupboards in the Queen's stables at St. 
Paul to keep the harness of pearls and embroidery of 
her horses ; for two pair of wheels for her "'char" ; for 
mending some tapestries bearing the histories of nine 
heroes, that is to say, Joshua, David, Judas Maccabeus, 
Hector, Alexander, Caesar, Arthur, Charlemagne, and 
Godefroi de Bouillon ; histories of the seven deadly 
sins, of the seven ages of man ; of Godefroi de 
Bouillon, of the Dukes of Aquitaine ; and the history 
of stags. 

And for making a chair of red Cordova leather 



196 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1399 

fringed with silk, gilt nails, and two gold chains, 
decorated and painted with choice colours. 

Isabeau had much more idea of comfort than had 
hitherto been usual even in the palaces of the Kings 
of France. Mingled with the splendour that had 
been more or less customary for some generations we 
see various attempts at convenience not yet intro- 
duced. She is said to have been the first to use a 
" suspended carriage," and those she had were 
luxurious and commodious to a degree never seen 
before, and drawn by very swift horses. She had one 
chariot on purpose for thunderstorms, " pour le 
tonnerre" but in what the safety of it consisted is not 
stated. 1 

She had caloriferes like little iron chariots filled 
with red-hot ashes wheeled about the cold galleries 
of the palaces, and hollow balls of gold and silver 
full of red-hot cinders to hold in the hand as chauffe- 
rettes. In hot weather she caused herself to be fanned 
by huge fans to keep her cool and drive away the 
flies ; her rooms were hung with costly tapestry and 
stuffs which were taken down and went with her 
from one palace to another. She had one room 
entirely hung with white satin, another with green 
satin, and her plate was almost always of gold. She 
used an Eastern talisman against poison, fastened 
with a silver gilt chain to her goblet and salt-cellar, 
and an officer of her household tried every dish 
before she tasted it. She had a cupboard painted 
and decorated by a skilful artist, in which she kept 
her relics and perfumes. For the latter she had a 

1 " Isabeau de Baviere,"' Vallet de Viriville. 



198 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1399 

mania. She always kept damask rose water about 
her, and used also a great quantity of what were 
called " oiselets de Chypre." These were little bottles 
something the shape of birds, filled with different 
Oriental perfumes. She and her ladies were con- 
stantly eating all sorts of sweetmeats, of which there 
seem to have been innumerable kinds. 1 

Carpets were sometimes, but not generally used, 
the floors were still strewn with rushes and fresh 
boughs, especially the great halls and banqueting 
rooms. It was, however, usual to lay them on the 
steps going up to the great beds, and the floors of 
many of the rooms in the palaces were of wood, often 
inlaid. 

They must have looked both magnificent and 
comfortable, those great bedrooms in the palaces 
and hotels of the nobles. The huge bed in an alcove 
or corner, steps covered with rich carpets going up to 
it, and curtains of silk or some costly material, carved 
cupboards, chests and seats, beams of the ceilings 
painted or gilded, walls hung with tapestry, windows 
protected by trellises of iron and filled with stained 
glass, a huge chimney-place, sculptured all over with 
figures and armorial bearings, on the hearth of which 
blazed great logs, while by it at right angles a tall 
carved settle kept away the draught. 

The Queen's bath was of carved oak, furnished or 
lined with bath sheets or towels. Over it was a 
canopy with curtains, which drew all round. 2 

One thing appears to be certain, and that is that, 
although at this time houses were insanitary and the 

1 " Isabeau de Baviere," Vallet de Viriville. 2 Idem. 



1399] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 199 

streets narrow and dirty, with open sewers in them, 
people were personally far cleaner than at a later 
day. 1 All through the Valois times, down to 1 600, 
there were plenty of etuves, or public bath-houses, 
to which every one who had not baths in their own 
houses used often to go. There were hot and vapour 
baths, and some of these establishments were ex- 
tremely luxurious and elegant, and were used for 
other purposes besides bathing. People who were 
starting on a journey often slept at them the night 
before, setting off from them in the morning ; they 
were often much resorted to as rendezvous, and many 
were the scenes of license and revelry which took 
place in them when the young nobles and courtiers, 
led often by Louis d'Orleans, adjourned there after 
some supper or banquet. 2 

The priests were very angry with them, and often 
preached against them, and so, later on, did the 
Huguenot ministers. By 1600 they had much 
diminished in number and importance, and soon 
after they disappeared, 3 which was a great pity, for of 
course it did no good at all ; people were just as 
immoral as before, and not nearly so clean. But this 
is another instance of the mischief done by the mis- 
placed activity of those busy, fanatical folks, who, 
with the most excellent intentions in their attempts 
to reform either religion or morals, direct their attacks 
upon something which is in itself perfectly harmless, 
or even valuable to the majority of people, doing all 

1 " Isabeau de Baviere," Vallet de Viriville. 

2 " Poesies d'Eustache Deschamps." 

3 " An Idler in Old France," Tighe Hopkins. 



200 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1399 

they can to deprive them of it, simply because they 
see some persons make an improper use of it. The 
early Christians were always preaching against those 
magnificent Roman baths, the destruction of which 
was such an irreparable loss to the people. 1 The 
Puritans, thinking that the morals of many plays 
and the lives of many actors left much to be desired, 
would, even in the last generation, have done away 
with all theatres if they had been allowed. And in 
our own days have we not many instances of the 
same kind ? 

In spite of all the suffering she caused and the 
harm she did, we do not gather that Isabeau was 
at all actively harsh, cruel, or disagreeable. She 
seems to have been liked by the companions of her 
follies, the servants of her household, and her ladies, 
of whom she had four dames, four demoiselles de corps, 
and two others. Her vices, faults, and deficiencies 
were just the worst she could have had in the present 
crisis, for they made her not only useless, but mis- 
chievous. If she had had brains, decision of cha- 
racter, courage, and common sense, she might also 
have been proud, passionate, vindictive, or ambitious, 
to any extent, and yet have been a great queen, and 
perhaps the salvation of France. 

But Isabeau's faults were not those of a great 
character. She was selfish, lazy, frivolous, vain, and 
avaricious. She let the reins of government remain 
without an effort or complaint in the hands of the 
Duke of Burgundy, she allowed the overbearing 

1 I do not, of course, mean to say that the Roman baths were 
destroyed by the early Christians. 



1399] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 201 

interference of the Duchess until it became perfectly 
insupportable. She now occupied herself in amass- 
ing for herself an enormous private fortune, con- 
sidering that the health of the King gave every cause 
for fear, and that she had had no dowry on her 
marriage. She had certainly secured to herself by 
letters of the King, 1394, a revenue of 25,000 livres, 
representing at that time an enormous sum ; I but 
besides this she was constantly collecting and storing 
away in chests, gold, jewels, plate, unset diamonds, 
and other precious stones, title deeds of lands, every- 
thing she could lay her hands upon, in which she was 
assisted by her brother, Ludwig of Bavaria, who was 
constantly in France, getting a large share of the 
spoils, wrung by taxation from the people. Isabeau 
seems to have had more affection for him than for 
any one else, and never appears to have changed 
towards him. From what little can be known about 
him he must have been very much like her, he was 
generally with her and Louis d'Orleans, and the 
people hated him, perhaps, most of all. Isabeau 
caused him to be grand maitre d' hotel to the King 
for some years, and married him first to Anne de 
Bourbon, Comtesse de Montpensier, and then to 
Catherine d'AIencon, widow of Pierre de Navarre, 
both princesses of the blood. He was apparently 
corrupt, dissipated, greedy after money, shallow, and 
useless. 

Though the streets of Paris were narrow and 
winding, yet both city and faubourgs had many 
large gardens and enclosures, or c/os, as they were 

1 Vallet de Viriville. 



202 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1399 

called, which belonged to the abbeys, convents, 
palaces, and hotels of the King and nobles. First, 
there was the famous Pre aux clercs, renowned in 
romance, mentioned several times in this and a 
former volume, which was so large that De Sauval 
says : " II se va pei'du bien loin dans la campagne" 




OLD PARIS. 



and which only began to be built upon in 1630. The 
clos des Jacobins was nine acres, where now are the 
streets of la Madeleine, St. Thomas, St. Dominique, &c, 
and it was said that before part of it was cut through 
to make the moats and fortifications in the reign of 
Jean, it went up to the walls of the university. * The 

1 De Sauval, " Antiquitez de Paris." 



1399] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 203 

clos des Cordeliers was also enormous, and in fact the 
great enclosures, gardens, vineyards, meadows, and 
even preserves for rabbits and other game, were so 
numerous as to form an important feature in the 
ancient capital. 

For those who care for the history of Paris there 
still remain in the byeways antique houses, pictu- 
resque corners, and old streets, around which cling 
the historic memories dear to their hearts, but to the 
great majority to whom it appears as nothing but an 
endless succession of broad streets and boulevards 
lined with trees, superb, monotonous, uninteresting 
houses copied from the Italian, and splendid shops ; 
it would be impossible to picture to ' themselves 
mediaeval Paris as it existed at the time of which 
this book treats. 

Mr. Harrison, in an interesting essay on the trans- 
formation of Paris, says : " The modern streets, to 
which our tourists confine their walks, form after all 
only a gigantic screen, behind which much of old 
Paris still remains untouched." 

Until 1789 Paris remained a mediaeval city. It 
would, of course, be out of the question in a work 
like this to attempt to give any real account of it, 
but it is possible to catch just a glimpse of what the 
aspect and life of the city must then have been by 
careful researches into the many splendid works in the 
Bibliotheque Nationale, the British Museum, and other 
places, which are filled with pictures and descriptions 
of it. 

With its lofty walls, towers, gates, and moats, old 
Paris looked, as it was, a fortress. Inside it was a 






204 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1399 

dense, tangled network of dark lanes, narrow, 
crooked streets, huge palaces, mediaeval fortresses 
and conventual enclosures. Here and there came 
a tower or Gothic portal, churches, bridges, and 
quays crowded with confused piles of lofty wooden 
houses, walled gardens with terraces, courts, and 
colonnades ; while those great royal and feudal 
castles, the Chdtelet, the Bastille, the Temple, and 
the Louvre, frowned over the city. 

The sanitary state of Paris was such that it is difficult 
to understand why any one was left alive. Narrow, 
unpaved streets, with open sewers running down the 
middle of them, cemeteries and charnel houses in the 
heart of the city, drinking water taken direct from 
the Seine, it is no wonder that there were such 
numbers of deaths of children and young people, and 
that so few attained to old age. Of all the children 
of Philippe de Valois only two lived to grow up ; out 
of the numerous family of Charles V. only two 
survived their childhood. Charles VI. had twelve 
children, and though only four died in childhood, 
scarcely one reached forty-five years. The sons and 
daughters of King Jean must have been exceptionally 
strong, for all except one grew up, and one or two 
lived to be quite old. And if this were the case with 
the royal family, it was not likely to be better with 
those who lived under much less favourable condi- 
tions. 

Not only within the walls, but for many miles 
outside them stood a profusion of churches, convents, 
abbeys, chapels, oratories of all sizes, from the mighty 
St. Germain des Pres to the smallest chantry on the 



1399] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 205 

pier of a bridge. Rich in works of art, gorgeous in 
colour, paintings, frescoes, mosaics, stained glass, carved 
statues, coloured marbles, gold and silver plate, bronzes, 
ivories, silks, velvets, tapestries, embroideries, illumi- 
nated books, bells, clocks, perfumes, organs, instru- 
ments of music, choirs of singers, every beautiful 
and delightful thing was crowded together with the 
relics of saints and tombs of great men, miraculous 
images, lamps, candles on thousands of altars, offer- 
ings dedicated to countless saints and martyrs. The 
Church was school, art museum, place of instruction, 
prayer, confession of sin, preaching, and civilising. 
The great convents and monasteries were the schools, 
colleges, hospitals and poorhouses. They existed in 
design for the poor, diseased, and wretched. Christ 
loved the weak and suffering, and the doors of His 
house stood ever open to the weak, the suffering, the 
halt, the blind, and the lame. The poorest, the 
weakest, the most abject, were welcome there. The 
priest, the monk, and the nun taught, clothed, and 
nursed the suffering poor and their children ; there 
was consolation in heaven for those who had found 
earth a hell. 1 

Strange and characteristic were the names of many 
of the .streets and houses, such as Cherche-midi, 
Trois-morts-et-trois-vifs, L'Ymage-de-Saint Nicolas, 
Quatre-fils-Aymon, Ami-du-cceur, Panier-vert, Hos- 
pice des Quinze-Vingts, 2 beside the Croissant, Lyon 

1 " The Mediaeval City. The Transformation of Paris," F. Harrison. 

2 The hospice of Quinze-Vingts was founded by St. Louis for the 
blind. A tradition, which is not considered true, says it was so named 

rom three hundred knights who were blinded by the infidels for the 
Christian faith. They had a cemetery, chapel, chaplain, and two bells, 






206 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1399 

d'or, Gerbe d'or, Croix blanche, Homme sauvage, 
Couronne, Cheval blanc, and many others still in use. 
Isabeau had several hotels of her own amongst this 
tangled labyrinth of streets, buildings, and gardens. 
First, the hotel de la Reine, which was one of the 
group of hotels connected by galleries and colonnades, 
surrounded by gardens, built by Charles V., and 
called St. Paul. Then she had one in the faubourg 
St. Marcel, given her by the Due de Berry, and another 
out in the country near Pouilly, called Val-la-Reine. 
Some years later she bought another, called Bagnolet, 
with a good deal of land and a windmill, besides all 
other accessories ; it had also about six thousand 
elms and many other trees. And in this year she 
bought the hotel Barbette, in the vieille rue du 
Temple. This she enlarged, bought all the ground 
about it to turn into gardens, and used it as a place 
of diversion. 1 

During this year one Salmon, a gentleman of 
the household of the Queen of England, who had 
gone with her to that country on her marriage, arrived 
with letters from King Richard, who wished to 
send the King and Queen of France news of the 
welfare and happiness of their daughter. Charles and 
Isabeau, delighted to hear about her, received the 
messenger with great honour. Richard appears to 
have felt some uneasiness at the friendship between 
Henry, son of the Duke of Lancaster, and the Due 

and bore the fleur-de-lis ; being a royal foundation. A tavern keeper 
in Paris having adopted the sign of the " Quinze-Vingts," they com- 
plained to the provost, who ordered him to give it up. 
1 " Antiquitez de Paris." Sauval. 



" ' V^ki - — 

i ■ i Mil 



v Vv\ N 




2o8 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1399 

d'Orleans. For Henry of Lancaster was already his 
secret enemy and dangerous rival, and the Due 
d'Orleans was extremely powerful and ambitious ; 
the Venetians sent ambassadors to him, and European 
princes appealed to him as to an independent sovereign. 
Year after year the dissension grew deeper between 
him and his uncle of Burgundy, who persisted in 
retaining the regency, which Louis declared ought to 
be his, during the King's frequent attacks of insanity. 

The year 1399 was an unfortunate one in every 
way. Troubles and dangers were beginning to gather 
in England, threatening the safety of Richard and 
Isabelle, and causing the greatest anxiety to the King 
and Queen of France. In March and April there 
were great floods. The Seine overflowed the whole 
country and destroyed the seeds, so that the crops 
were ruined and the country made so unhealthy that 
the plague began again. For eight days a dreadful 
comet flamed in the sky, which every one said fore- 
boded evil. 1 

Henry of Lancaster, Earl of Hereford and Derby, 
had become Duke of Lancaster through his father's 
death, and having been exiled for treasonable practices 
by King Richard was spending some months at the 
French court. Richard seized the duchy of Lancaster 
and wrote to the King of France, complaining of the 
disloyalty of Henry and begging him not to consent 
to his marriage with Marie, daughter of the Due de 
Berry, who, though only twenty-three, was a widow 
for the second time, and would have brought him 
great riches and powerful alliances. 2 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis." Juvenal des Ursins. 2 Sismondi. 



1399] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 209 

The Due de Berry was quite willing to agree to the 
marriage, but Charles spoke to the Duke of Burgundy, 
who, when Henry, still called Earl of Derby, took 
occasion, the King, princes, and court being assembled, 
to speak of the matter, said in the name of the 
King : " Cousin, we cannot give our cousin to a 
traitor." Henry replied indignantly that he was no 
traitor, and defied any one who should call him so ; 
whereupon Charles, who really liked him, and besides 
was weak and confused with illness, softened the 
refusal by assuring him that the words of his uncle of 
Burgundy were inspired by England, and that no 
one in France doubted his honour. That as to the 
marriage, it could be spoken of another time, but 
first it was necessary that he should be invested with 
his duchy of Lancaster. After which wine and dessert 
{epices) were served and the subject dropped. 1 
Henry of Lancaster, who was crafty enough, suc- 
ceeded in deluding and making friends with the King 
and princes, even gaining over the Duke of Burgundy ; 
and then returned to England. 

The plague grew worse and worse ; so fatal was 
the epidemic that it was forbidden at Paris to publish 
the lists of the dead. The court moved for a time 
into Normandy, there were litanies, sermons, and 
processions, but as the monk of St. Denis says, " many 
abbeys were nearly depopulated, though the abbey of 
St. Denis only lost one brother, who passed without 
doubt to the abode of the blessed." The plague was 
about in the country for two years. 

Disquieting reports were brought from England to 

1 Froissart, t. xiv. c. 69, p. 155. 
15 



2io PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1400 

the French coast by some merchants of Bruges. 1 It 
was rumoured that a revolution had taken place, that 
King Richard had been deposed, and that both he 
and the young queen were in captivity. The King 
and Queen of France were in the deepest anxiety 
about their daughter and nobody could tell what had 
happened (which is a strange reflection, in this, the 
five-hundredth year after these events). The court 
returned to the capital, and suddenly all Paris was 
thrown into excitement by the news that the Dame 
de Coucy, grande-maitresse to the Queen of England, 
had arrived unexpectedly at her family hotel. Directly 
Charles heard of it he rushed to the hotel de Coucy to 
see her. He found her in great alarm and dismay, 
having been banished from England, and all that she 
told him of the dethronement, imprisonment, and 
danger of his son-in-law and the captivity of his 
daughter so distressed and incensed him that although 
he had been rather unusually well for some little time, 
he fell into a frenzy of madness which for the present 
rendered him incapable of doing anything. 2 

The astonishment and anger of all the French 
princes at these events knew no bounds. They cursed 
the insolent London burghers who had dared to rebel 
against their King, were furious with Henry of 
Lancaster, of whose resistance to Richard they had 
never contemplated such a result ; and tried to stir 
up against him the inhabitants of the remaining 
English possessions in France, but without success ; 
for although attached to Richard, who was born at 

1 Strickland, "Queens of England," vol. iii. p. 25. 

2 Sismondi, " Hist. Fran;ais," t. viii. p. 125. 



1400] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 211 

Bordeaux, the inhabitants of Bordeaux, Bayonne, &c, 
were so much better governed, less taxed, and more 
prosperous than their French neighbours that they 
declined to exchange the English for the French rule. 
The people of Paris, discontented and uneasy at the 
King's illness and the various misfortunes that kept 
happening, bethought themselves that they never saw 
anything of the Dauphin, who was delicate and did 
not appear much in public. They therefore insisted 
on his being shown to them, and his uncles, in conse- 
quence, made him ride through Paris to St. Denis, 
attended by a cortege of nobles. There was a state 
banquet there, and the people, delighted with the 
Dauphin and the splendid pageant, thronged the 
whole way, singing hymns and litanies, and praying 
for the little lad who rode in state for the first and 
last time as the heir of France. 1 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xx. p. 745. 



CHAPTER VI 

i 400- i 409 

Courage of the young Queen of England — Death of the Dauphin — 
Birth of Catherine de France — Intrigues of Louis d'Orleans, and 
quarrels at court — Return of the Queen of England — Burgundians 
and Orleanists — Birth of Charles de France — Dreadful storms — 
Death of Burgundy — Illness of Due de Berry — Conduct of Savoisy 
— Frere Jacques Legrand — The Princess Marie's choice — Accident 
in the forest — The King and the Dauphin — Jean Sans-peur — King 
ill — Eclipse — Royal weddings — The great winter — Murder of Louis 
d'Orleans. 

" 'HP^HE marriage of King Richard with Isabelle 
X was unadvised, and so I declared when it was 
proposed," said the Duke of Burgundy. " Since the 
English have imprisoned King Richard, they will 
assuredly put him to death, for they always hated 
him because he preferred peace to war." x 

His words were not long in being fulfilled. No 
one can doubt that it was by the order of Henry that 
Richard was secretly murdered, and thus came to an 
end the project of uniting the Valois and Plantagenets 
and closing by this alliance the Hundred Years' War. 

1 Juvenal des Ursins. 

212 



1400] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU BE B AVI ERE 213 

The fate of Isabelle was of course what now occu- 
pied the royal family of France. Her father sent 
ambassadors to see her and demanded that she 
should immediately be sent back to France with 
all her dowry and possessions. Henry IV., on the 
other hand, was most anxious that she should marry 
his son, now Prince of Wales, who was, as he truly 
remarked, of a much more suitable age for her than 
Richard had been. But Isabelle would not hear of 
this plan. She had been extremely fond of King 
Richard, whose visits to her at Windsor or wherever 
she happened to be pursuing her studies under the 
care of her ladies had been her greatest pleasure and 
holidays, and she doubtless looked forward to the 
time when, free from every restraint, she would live 
and reign always with the handsome, magnificent 
hero of romance who treated her with affectionate 
kindness and unlimited indulgence. If, as Sainte- 
Marthe and other French historians say, and as seems 
certain, Isabelle was the eldest daughter of Charles 
VI. and was born in 1388, she could not at this time 
have been more than twelve years old, but she 
appears to have felt for King Richard the kind of 
romantic worship that very young girls occasionally 
feel for a man much older than themselves. At any 
rate, she took an extraordinarily prominent part in a 
conspiracy to restore Richard, tore the badge of Lan- 
caster from the liveries of her household, issued a 
proclamation declaring that she did not recognise 
Henry as king, went with the barons of Richard's 
party to Cirencester, and after his death vehemently 
refused to marry the Prince of Wales, asking only 



2i 4 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1401 

to be sent back to France to her father and mother ; 
and a constant interchange of letters upon that subject 
went on between the royal families of France and 
England during the whole of this year. 

In January the Dauphin Charles, who had been 
gradually growing thinner and weaker, faded away 
and died. His doctors could not find out what was 
the matter nor do him any good. The King, who 
was just then in his right mind, went to St. Denis to 
pray for him ; the Dukes of Burgundy, Bourbon, and 
Orleans went to Ste. Catherine and Notre Dame 
for the same purpose, and prayers and processions 
went on everywhere, but he died on the nth of 
January in the middle of the night. 1 

The next brother, Louis, became Dauphin, and the 
youngest, Jean, then two years old, was created Due 
de Touraine. The duchy of Guyenne was also added 
to the territory of the Dauphin. 

The Queen's father, Stephan of Bavaria, came to 
France this year and remained some time. He was 
again a widower and Isabeau wanted to marry him 
to the widow of the last Sire de Coucy who had great 
possessions, but the princes objected to placing a 
Bavarian in a powerful position close to Paris, so 
it had to be given up. 

The King's attacks got no better ; he had six 
during 1399. Sometimes he was childish, played, 
laughed, and ran about all over the hotel St. Paul 
or wherever he happened to be, so that they had to 
wall up a great many of the entrances and places he 
could fall out of. At other times he was raving and 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xxi. p. 771, t. ii. 



i 4 oi] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 215 

furious, so that it was dangerous to approach him, 
and sometimes sad and melancholy. The Queen 
was not entirely separated from him, because every 
now and then he got well and then they were together 
and he gave his orders and often tried to put to rights 
the mischief and wrong done in his absence, and 
recalled friends who had been exiled or imprisoned. 
He had insisted on Juvenal des Ursins, provost of 
Paris, being left with him and not molested, and it 
was of no use for his enemies to try to prevent it. He 
would not listen to them, but exclaimed angrily, 
" Where is my provost ? I will have my provost ! " 
He was well for part of the summer of 1400, and was 
at services of thanksgiving in consequence at St. 
Denis and Notre Dame, but was soon after taken 
ill again and not well till Christmas. The Princess 
Catherine was born October 27th, at St. Paul. 

In spite of the King's frequent attacks of madness, 
the Queen contrived to amuse herself very well. 
From what one can gather from the records of the 
times she seems to have been generally on good 
terms with him when he was well, and not to have 
allowed the pleasures and diversions of her life to be 
interfered with when he was ill. The court was still 
disturbed and excited by the rivalry of the Duchesses 
of Burgundy and Orleans, but Isabeau, who, if she 
had been a different sort of woman, could and ought 
to have ruled them both, did nothing of the kind. 
She hated the Duchess of Burgundy and was rather 
inclined to be jealous of Valentine, but still on the 
whole seems to have got on well enough with her 
notwithstanding her liaison with the Due d'Orleans. 



216 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1401 

Louis and Isabeau were nearly always together; they 
made excursions and gave balls and dinners and 
suppers at St. Paul, the hotel Barbette, and other 
places ; they hunted and drove in the royal forests 
and their proceedings created continual gossip and 
scandal in society and all over Paris. Louis at the 
same time was carrying on a more than usually 
scandalous intrigue J with the beautiful wife of the 
Sire de Canny, which is noticeable because the 
result of it was the birth of the great Dunois, the 
far-famed Bastard of Orleans, renowned in French 
song and story. 

The Queen and her children lived chiefly at the 
hotel St. Paul, going backwards and forwards 
between it and the Palais, spending two or three 
weeks at one and then at the other, making excur- 
sions and visits to other of the royal castles in the 
neighbourhood. The plague, or, as they called it, 
" the mortality," was still a good deal about, and 
there are notices of men sent to find out if it was 
safe to go to different places, as for instance, Jehan 
Charron was sent by the Queen to Crecy with letters 
to the receveur to ask if " the mortality " was there, 
and another man on another occasion to ride all 
night somewhere to make the same inquiry ; and 
as Isabeau again sent two or three times in April to 
different places it must have still been going on. She 
also went to St. Ouen and borrowed a litter from the 
Abbot of Coulons. 2 On May 31st she seems to have 

1 The whole history of it may be read in ancient French chronicles, 
Juvenal des Ursins,. Paradin, &c. 

2 " Compte de l'hotel de la reine Isabeau de Baviere," 1401. 
"Archives de l'Empire." " Registre Cote," R. K. 45, fob 8j a 101. 
Douet d'Arcq. 



1401] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 217 

returned from some excursion, for she dined and 
supped at the hotel Barbette and went to St. Paul 
to sleep. Isabeau and Louis, with their suites, would 
often go out to dine and sup at one of these chateaux, 
especially as the days grew long and the weather hot. 
Baignolet, or Bagnolet, near Romainville, with its 
wood of elms and other trees, was another of the 
Queen's country-places where they sometimes went, 
returning to Paris at night. But the distress, con- 
fusion, and poverty in the kingdom were increasing 
rapidly, and the people murmured as the sounds of 
music and merriment were heard from the windows 
of the hotel Barbette or the cavalcades of Louis and 
Isabeau, with their splendid dresses, trappings, and 
horses swept through the streets or passed out of 
the gates of Paris. 

They were both very fond of horses and rode well, 
and wherever she was Isabeau had numbers of pet 
animals. Plenty of dogs, both large and small, 
monkeys which played about in her rooms, an 
enormous aviary of all sorts of birds, French and 
foreign, which sang and chattered all about her 
palaces, for there were parrots amongst them as 
well as doves and little birds. When she moved 
she took them with her, and was always buying 
more or having them given to her. 1 

All her children were with her at this time except 
the Queen of England, who was expected before 
long, and the little nun at Poissy — that is to say, 
her two boys, her second daughter, Jeanne, Duchesse 
de Bretagne, who still lived with her, and the little 

1 Vallet de Viriville. 



218 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1401 

Michelle and Catherine. There is an account of the 
offerings made by the Queen and the four elder chil- 
dren at Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas, Easter, 
and all the great festivals. The children all gave the 
same. 

Also of enormous quantities of sweetmeats and 
bonbons made " for the Queen and enfants de France 
(at the New Year) ; that is to say, for nos seigneurs 
the Dukes of Guyenne and Touraine, and nos dames 
the Duchesse de Bretagne et Michelle de France." 
Dragees, coriander, paste du roy, preparations of 
cinnamon, rose sugar, sugared nuts (perhaps pralines), 
and various others in great quantities and several 
times ; sometimes twenty pounds, sometimes forty, 
and then, as one can well imagine, medicines for 
the Dukes of Guyenne and Touraine. 

Also frequently paper and bottles of ink for the 
Queen, and money paid to the messengers who car- 
ried her letters on many occasions to the King, the 
Due and Duchesse d'Orleans, to various abbots, 
abbesses, and different people. 1 

She also had some fools and dwarfs. One called 
Grand Jehan le fol died some time before, and 
there is a bill for 12 lbs. of wax for his funeral at 
St. Germain d'Auxerrois. These fools were both 
male and female ; she had one fool, her mother, and 
grandmother, besides a Saracen woman some one had 
given her, of whom she afterwards made a sister 
(sceur converse) in a convent. 

1 " Compte de l'hotel de la reine Isabeau de Baviere," 1401. 
" Archives de PEmpire." " Registre Cote," R. K. 45, fol. 8j a 101. 
Doiiet d'Arcq. 



1401] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 219 

In August the young Queen of England came 
home. Henry IV. had behaved very badly to her 
and to her family, for it was not until after long and 
tedious negotiations that he would send her at all, 
and when he did he kept nearly all her jewels and 
the whole of her dowry. He went to take leave of 
and console her and sent her to Calais with a brilliant 
escort of nobles and ladies. Her father was just then 
in his right senses, and delighted at her coming. He 
sent his uncle the Duke of Burgundy to fetch her. 
The Duke met her halfway between Calais and 
Boulogne, where a magnificent tent was pitched 
in which she took wine and refreshments with her 
English ladies, who sobbed and cried as she embraced 
them all, gave them presents, and took leave of them. 
She then joined the Duke of Burgundy, who waited 
for her with an escort of six hundred cavalry, and 
journeyed by Boulogne, Abbeville, then to Picardy, 
and by St. Denis to Paris, where she was restored to 
her parents, brothers, and sisters at the hotel St. 
Paul Charles and Isabeau received her with joy 
and affection. The Queen took charge of her and 
re-arranged her household, which she diminished in 
numbers but placed ladies of higher rank about her. 1 

The Due d'Orleans had raised a troop of fifteen 
hundred men to go to the assistance of the Emperor 
Wenceslas, who had been dethroned by his subjects ; 
but although he was joined in Luxembourg by the 
Due de Gueldre, who was rash, hot-headed, and a 
great friend of his, the expedition came to nothing, 
and they returned to Paris together, with the Due 
1 " Relig. de St. Denis," t. iii. 1. xxii. p. 7. 



220 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1401 

d'Orleans's troop and five hundred men of the Due 
de Gueldre. They were soon joined by the Bretons 
who were friends of Clisson, by some Scottish and 
Welsh companies in the French service, and by a 
number of Normans and all the vassals of Orleans, 
ready to fight in his quarrel against the party of 
Burgundy. 

For the rivalry and hatred between the uncle and 
nephew and their families had arrived at such a pitch 
that they seemed to be on the verge of a civil war. 
Besides the question of the regency between Philippe 
and Louis, and the mortal hatred between the 
Duchesses of Orleans and Burgundy, it was whis- 
pered that a new cause of offence had arisen. Louis 
d'Orleans had a private room — cabinet, stud)/, or 
drawing-room — the walls of which he had hung 
with the portraits of women who he declared had 
been his mistresses. This room he generally kept 
closed, but one day by chance, Jean, Comte de Nevers, 
eldest son of the Duke of Burgundy, went into it and 
found his wife's portrait among the others. That 
this was nothing but an infamous boast on the part 
of Louis, and that no blame whatever was attached 
to the Comtesse de Nevers seems certain, that is to 
say, if the story be true at all. At any rate it was 
reported and believed at court and related by French 
historians, and has been given as a reason for the 
tragic climax to the feud between Burgundy and 
Orleans. For Jean Sans-peur, as the Comte de Nevers 
was nick-named, swore vengeance against his cousin 
for this insult ; and the Dukes of Orleans and Bur- 
gundy, each with his followers and vassals, fortified 



1402] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 221 

themselves in their dwellings — Louis in his hotel 
near the porte St. Antoine, and the Burgundians in 
their hotel d'Artois x — while the citizens trembled at 
the thought of these fierce and violent men in the 
midst of them longing to be at each other's throats 
and making no secret of their delight at the prospect 
of sacking Paris. Seven or eight thousand men on 
each side were waiting the signal to draw their swords ; 
the King was just then mad, and the Queen and Due 
de Berry vainly tried to mediate between them. So 
matters went on all through December, but at the 
beginning of January, 1402, the Due de Berry, who 
was then living at the hotel de Nesle, managed to 
get his brother and nephew to meet there. It was 
no easy matter, as although they sat at the council 
together they refused to speak to or salute one 
another, and each vehemently opposed whatever 
the other proposed. However, he persuaded them 
at last to embrace, and ride together through the 
streets to proclaim their reconciliation to the people, 
and dismiss their soldiers, to the great relief of the 
court and Parisians, and at the same time the Kinsf 
returned to his senses, so there was a general thanks- 
giving at St. Denis, and for a time every one breathed 
more freely. 2 

In February Isabeau had another boy, and for the 
third time the King and Queen chose the name of 
Charles for their son, who was made Comte de 
Ponthieu and was afterwards Charles VII. 

1 Plancher, "Hist, de Bourg," 1. xiv. p. 182. 

2 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xxi. c. 4, p. 442. Juvenal des 
Ursins. 



222 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1402 

In May the Queen gave a great fete at the 
hotel Barbette to the Due de Gueldre, at which 
Louis, Valentine, and several other seigneurs were 
present. 1 

One would almost suppose that serious thunder- 
storms in those days must have been more frequent 
than at present in the north of Europe, for three of 
truly southern violence took place in May and June 
of this year. The first, accompanied by a furious 
wind and a shower of hailstones as big as a goose's 
egg, destroyed the vines and other crops for sixteen 
leagues ; in the second the lightning struck the hotel 
St. Paul, penetrated into the Queen's room, where 
that night she was not sleeping, 2 and consumed the 
magnificent curtains of her bed. As a thank-offering 
for her escape she sent offerings to several churches, 
and to the monks of St. Denis a sum to say three 
masses a year for the soul of the late Dauphin. The 
third storm, on the last day of June, did more harm 
than either of the others ; it tore up trees, unroofed 
houses, and destroyed a great part of the halle du 
Lendit, near St. Denis, but left the part untouched 
where the judges of the royal contributions resided. 
The people, who were vexed and harassed by them, 
remarked that the devil had spared his own abode. 
The great cross on the priory de l'Estree was struck 
down. 

1 " Compte de l'hotel de la reine Isabeau de Baviere," 1401. 
"Archives de FEmpire." " Registre Cote," R. K. 45, fol. 87 a 101. 
Doiiet d'Arcq. 

2 " Relig. de St. Denis," t. iii. 1. xxii. p. 9. Another account says 
the Queen was in bed at the time, but escaped unhurt. 



1402] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU BE BAVIERE 223 

The King went on much the same, being tolerably 
well for a few weeks, and then ill for several weeks 
more. The Due d'Orleans had persuaded him to 
appoint him regent, and to give him absolute power 
over all the Langue d'Oi'l, or northern part of France. 
Some time after he had an attack of madness, and 
Orleans, directly he had the government in his hands, 
levied enormous taxes, forced loans from everybody, 
seized provisions both of lay and ecclesiastics, and 
published a decree for another heavy and universal 
tax throughout the kingdom, to which he attached 
the signatures of his uncles of Burgundy and Berry, 
both of whom at once publicly denied them, saying 
that the secretary of their nephew was a forger. 
There was a general commotion ; Louis was declared 
unfit to govern, and even the Queen and Duchesse 
d'Orleans saw that this sort of thing could not 
possibly go on. So directly the King was better a 
council was called, in which the Queen, the Duchesse 
d'Orleans, all the princes of the blood, the Constable, 
Chancellor, the chief minister, and some of the nobles 
took part. By them it was settled that in case of the 
King's death the chief authority should be in the 
hands of the Queen until the majority of her son. 
Meanwhile the Queen was president of the Council. 
The direction of affairs was taken away from the Due 
d'Orleans, and the Duke of Burgundy regained his 
power next time the King was ill. 

It had been promised by the King and Queen that 
the late Dauphin should marry the eldest daughter 
of the Comte de Nevers, and she was now be- 
trothed to the Dauphin Louis, commonly called Due 



224 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1404 

d'Aquitaine, 1 and it was further arranged that the 
Princess Michelle should be married to Philippe, 
eldest son of the Comte de Nevers, but that she 
should be left to be brought up by the Queen her 
mother. The marriage of the Dauphin and Mar- 
guerite of Burgundy was celebrated with great pomp 
at Paris in the cathedral of Notre Dame in August 
1404. There had been some talk of marrying Jean, 
the second son of the King, to another daughter of 
the Comte de Nevers, but this idea was given up 
and he was betrothed to Jacqueline, only child of 
Guillaume, Comte de Hainault, and Marguerite de 
Bourgogne, a great heiress. 

Not long afterwards the Duke of Burgundy was 
taken ill on a journey from Arras, where he had left 
the Duchess, to Brussels, in order to visit his aunt, 
the Duchesse de Brabant. The roads were very bad, 
and though pioneers were sent on before his litter to 
smooth and mend them, he could not go on much 
further, but stopped at an inn called the " Stag," and 
sent for his three sons, Jean, Antoine, and Philippe. 
He expressed repentance for his oppressions, exhorted 
his sons to fear God, to be good brothers to each 
other, loyal subjects to the King, and to live at peace 
with the rest of the royal family, after which he 
arranged his affairs and died. 

So extravagant had he been that, in spite of his 
immense possessions, it was doubtful whether he had 
left enough money to pay his debts, for which reason 
the Duchess of Burgundy formally renounced com- 
munante de biens, laying her girdle, purse and keys 

1 Aquitaine was beginning to be called Guyenne about this time. 



1404] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 225 

upon his coffin, according to the custom. She died 
very soon after. 1 

At the same time the Due de Berry was very ill, 
and when he recovered and found the Duke of 
Burgundy was dead he was deeply grieved. While 
the former was ill and the King mad, the Due 
d'Orleans, at the head of an armed band, broke into 
the Palais one night and carried away nearly all the 
money to be found there. The Hundred Years' War 
had begun again, and there were constant fights 
going on, towns and castles attacked and taken, sea- 
ports and villages surprised and sacked by warships. 
The new Duke of Burgundy was much worse than 
the old one, and had not, of course, the same 
authority in the council or royal family. The Due 
d'Orleans, though he hated his uncle, was obliged to 
have a certain respect for him as a sort of representa- 
tive of his father, 2 and the King, in spite of putting 
a stop every now and then to his tyrannical proceed- 
ings, looked up to him with an amount of considera- 
tion which neither he nor his brother entertained 
for Jean Sans-peur, who was as ambitious and 
extravagant as his father, without his great qualities, 
and was harder, more unscrupulous, more cruel, and 
more crafty. The chief princes of the blood who 
ruled in council were now the Queen, the Due de 
Berry (the last surviving son of King Jean), Louis le 
Bon, Due de Bourbon, Louis II., King of Sicily (son 
of the late Due d'Anjou, and a much better man 

1 Monstrelet, "Chronique," t. i. p. 89. Barante, " Dues de Bourg.," 
t. ii. p. 17. 

2 Sismondi. 

16 



226 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1405 

than his father), Charles III., King of Navarre (also 
an excellent character), and Jean Sans-peur, Duke of 
Burgundy, besides, of course, the Due d'Orleans. 
But unfortunately the two most influential were the 
Dukes of Burgundy and Orleans, the latter being 
always supported by the Queen and her brother, 
Ludwig of Bavaria. 

The brigands had reappeared all over the country 
and great distress prevailed, large tracts of land 
went out of cultivation, travelling was unsafe owing 
to the highwaymen who infested the roads, but the 
fetes at court grew more brilliant and licentious and 
the royal favourites more insolent. Charles de 
Savoisy, who had long been a favourite of the King, 
and was grand-maitre d' hotel to the Queen, was one 
of the most conspicuous. One of his pages, galloping 
down the streets as a procession belonging to the 
university was going by, knocked down some of the 
students, out of insolent bravado. The others sur- 
rounded and gave him a blow. The page fled to 
the hotel Savoisy and demanded vengeance, where- 
upon the retainers of Savoisy attacked the procession 
which was already entering the church of Ste. 
Catherine, striking with sticks and swords those who 
were still outside, and firing off cross-bows into the 
church, wounding several people and injuring the 
sacred images, ornaments, and vestments of the 
priests. When first Savoisy heard of it, he said his 
men had done quite right to maintain the honour 
of his house ; but finding that the University had 
laid a complaint before the Queen and the Dukes of 
Burgundy and Orleans, he was frightened and offered 



1405] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 227 

to give up the culprits to be hanged. The University, 
however, proceeded with the case, the Due d'Orleans 
took it up, and just then the King came to his senses 
and was very angry. He ordered Savoisy to be 
banished, his hotel razed to the ground, and a chapel 
built there at his expense instead. Savoisy was, after 
a time, recalled and enriched again. 1 

Meanwhile Louis d'Orleans, Isabeau, and her 
brother were amassing an enormous amount of 
treasure, which they kept in safe places distributed 
about. A convoy drawn by six horses and loaded 
entirely with gold coin was stopped near Metz, being 
on the way to Germany, sent by Isabeau. The 
people learned from the drivers of it that several 
others 2 of these convoys had safely reached their 
destination. But they did not pay their tradesmen 
nor any of their debts. The servants of the house- 
hold of the King, Dauphin, and other royal children, 
could not get their wages, so that thus it was nearly 
impossible to procure them proper food, clothes, and 
attendance. An Augustine monk named Jacques 
Legrand, preaching before the Queen on Ascension 
Day, harangued against the dissolute habits of the 
court, where he declared that Venus reigned and 
corruption was general. He said that drunkenness, 
debauchery, and licentious dances went on all night, 
that the Queen had introduced the excessive luxury 
and extravagance in dress which everywhere pre- 
vailed, as she would hear if she went out in disguise. 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xxiv. c. 8, p. 493. Monstrelet, 
c. xiii. p. 126. 

2 " Isabeau de Baviere," Vallet de Viriville. 



228 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1405 

The Queen was very angry and some of her ladies 
told the monk that they could not imagine why he 
was not afraid to say such things, to which he replied 
that he could still less understand why they dared to 
do them. He treated with indifference the threats 
aimed at him, and when some of the courtiers told 
the King that he had been speaking disrespectfully 
of the Queen and her goings on, he said he was very 
glad of it, and that the monk should preach to him in 
his oratory on Whitsunday. Charles listened with 
much attention to his sermon on the excesses of the 
court and society, and when it was over praised him 
for his fidelity and courage, took him under his pro- 
tection, and resolved to reform the state of things he 
complained of. But he fell ill again in June and 
remained so during half July, so nothing was done. 1 

There was a spell of very bad weather just then. 
The melting of snow in the mountains of Haute 
Bourgogne caused a torrent to rush down from the 
gorges carrying stones and rocks. It drowned many 
people, broke down the walls of the great abbey of 
Gluny, and rushed in, driving the monks up to the 
higher stories, where they remained till, in sixteen 
hours, the flood went down, and they descended to 
dig out the dead bodies from the ruins. 2 

The Queen and Due d'Orleans had formed the 
project of attaching to their party the Due de Bar, 
cousin of the King, by marrying his son to one of 
the daughters of France. As the only available one 
was the Princess Marie, notwithstanding her vows 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xxvi. p. 275. 

2 Ibid., liv. xxvi. p. 281. 



1405] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 229 

and dedication of the child at Poissy, Isabeau, 
accompanied by Louis, set out for that convent to 
see her daughter and talk to her on the subject. 
She found, however, that instead of a ready consent, 
which she doubtless expected, the Princess Marie, 
then about twelve years old, absolutely refused to 
leave the convent. The Queen talked for a long 
time to her daughter, and the Due d'Orleans added 
his persuasions, but it was no use, she would not hear 
of it. She said to the Queen that she had placed 
her there, she was dedicated to God, and she should 
stay there, adding, " You have made a gift to God 
and you cannot recall it." 

The King was ill just then, but when he got better 
they persuaded him to try his influence. He con- 
sented rather reluctantly, but said she should do as 
she chose. He went to see her and asked whether 
she would consent to leave the convent and marry 
(she had, of course, not yet taken the irrevocable 
vows). But the child replied that she had promised 
to be the bride of Christ, and would hold to her vow 
unless her father could find her a better and more 
powerful bridegroom. 1 The Queen and Due d'Orleans, 
after their unsuccessful visit to the young princess, 
went to hunt in the forest of St. Germain. There 
a frightful storm came on. Isabeau, as usual, was 
terrified. Louis got off his horse and took refuge in 
her carriage. The horses took fright and ran away 
down to the river, into which they would certainly 
have plunged had not a man caught hold of them 
and cut the traces, or whatever were the straps that 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis." Juvenal des Ursins. 



230 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1405 

fastened them to the carriage. The lightning struck 
the room where the Dauphin was in Paris, and killed 
one of his favourite esquires. The Dauphin was 
dreadfully frightened but not hurt. His attendants 
consoled him and had holy water thrown about the 
room. 1 The people said that these floods and storms 
were caused by the conduct of the Queen and Due 
d'Orleans, who seem to have been of the same 
opinion, for they were for a short time seized with 
remorse and declared they would pay their debts. 
Louis even went so far as to summon his creditors 
to his hotel to receive their money, but when they 
came he had changed his mind and would not pay 
them — at least, only those who had come from a great 
distance. 

One day the King, recovering suddenly from an 
attack of insanity, and finding everything in a state 
of confusion and discomfort, began to inquire the 
meaning of this condition of things. The Queen and 
the Due d'Orleans were away, so he questioned the 
governess of the Dauphin, who told him that she 
really could not get proper clothes and scarcely 
proper food for the Dauphin and his brothers and 
sisters, that the Queen would not attend to the 
matter, and she did not know what to do. Charles 
was exceedingly angry and grieved, for he was very 
fond of his children, and he sent for the Dauphin 
and asked him if it were true. The boy hesitated, 
but after a little persuasion told his father that it was, 
only that his mother had by caresses and entreaties 
made him promise not to tell his father. Charles 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis/' liv. xxvi. p. 283. 



1405] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE B AVI ERE 231 

then asked him how long it was since he had been 
with his mother, to which he replied, about three 
months. The King thanked the governess for her 
faithfulness, begged her to take care of the children, 
gave her a gold cup he had been drinking from to 
reward her services, promising to do more for her 
afterwards. Then he called a council and sent for 
the Duke of Burgundy. 1 

The Queen and the Due d'Orleans, when they heard 
he was coming, fled to Melun and fortified themselves 
there ; which was easy enough as it was a very strong 
place on an island in the Seine. It had been the 
headquarters of the party of Navarre, as it had 
belonged to Queen Blanche in the reign of Jean and 
Charles V. 2 

In order to prevent the Dauphin from falling into 
the hands of the Duke of Burgundy, they sent word 
to Ludwig of Bavaria, the Queen's brother, to bring 
not only him but the children of Burgundy also, to 
the Queen's country house at Pouilly, where they 
went to wait for them. But the Parisians got to hear 
of it, and sent in haste to meet the Duke of Burgundy 
and tell him to come as fast as he could, for the 
Queen had sent for the Dauphin and they were 
afraid she was going to take him to Germany. Jean 
Sans-peur, at the head of a strong body of armed 
men, pushed on at full speed, but found when he got 
there that they had already started. He rode after 
them and caught them up at about a league and a 
half from Paris. They had been taken by boat to 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis." 

2 " Early Valois Queens." 



232 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1406 

Vitry and had slept at Villejuif. It was pouring 
with rain. The Duke of Bavaria represented that 
the Queen had sent for the children and begged the 
Duke of Burgundy, who had much the stronger party 
of the two, not to prevent his obeying her orders. 
The Duke of Burgundy rode up to the Dauphin's 
litter, and, opening the portiere, asked him if it were 
by his own free will that he had left Paris. The 
Dauphin replied that he would much rather go back 
there to his father ; upon which the Duke of Burgundy 
ordered him to return at once, and himself took hold 
of the bridles of the horses and turned them back 
towards Paris. The Duke of Bavaria accompanied 
him, and the Dauphin was soon lodged in the Louvre 
while the Duke of Burgundy fortified himself in his 
hotel d'Artois. 

The rest of the party returned to Pouilly, where 
they found Isabeau and Louis just going to dinner. 
But on hearing what had happened they were so 
alarmed that, without even waiting to dine, they fled 
to Melun and took refuge there. 1 

There was now open war between the Queen and 
Due d'Orleans and the Burgundian party, and the 
royal family was divided and perplexed. The King 
of Sicily and Due de Bourbon tried to make peace 
and came to Melun for that purpose, but it was no 
use ; the Queen would not see them and the Due 
d'Orleans would not listen to them. He said the 
capture of the Dauphin was an insult to the Queen 
and to himself. They went back in despair, and 
begged the Due de Berry to try. He also went to 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xxvi. p. 295. 



I4©5] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 233 

Melun, but it was no use ; the Queen would not go 
back to Paris. 

She was at this time very angry with some of the 
members of her household who had been spreading 
scandal about her. She dismissed several of her 
maids-of-honour, among them one who had been her 
great favourite, whom she often consulted, and who 
kept her seal. She put two of the gentlemen of her 
household in prison and kept them there for some 
time, in spite of the entreaties of their friends that 
they might be brought to trial. 1 

However, a conference was held at Vincennes, 
peace was patched up, and they all returned to 
Paris, where the Queen took up her abode again 
with the King at St. Paul, the Due d'Orleans at 
his hotel near the Bastille, the Duke of Burgundy 
occupied the hotel d'Artois, the King of Sicily the 
hotel d'Anjou, and the Due de Berry the hotel de 
Nesle. Each of these hotels was a fortress, and all 
the streets around them were defended with chains 
and wooden doors. 

Meanwhile, the King had another attack worse 
than ever. He was very fierce, so that no one dared 
go near him, and refused to undress or wash. This 
went on so long, and he got into such a dreadful 
state, that the doctor said it must be stopped some- 
how. Ten or twelve men therefore disguised them- 
selves, wore armour under their clothes, and 
blackened their faces. Then they rushed into the 
King's room, " terrible to see," as the chronicler 
remarks. The King was so frightened that he let 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xxvi. p. 331. 



234 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1406 

them get close to him, and then they seized him, 
undressed and washed him, and put clean clothes 
on him. He soon began to get better, but for some 
time did not know any one but Juvenal des Ursins, 
who used to go to see him, and whom he would 
recognise and talk to. Shortly after he recovered 
his senses. 1 

On the 16th of June, 1406, there was a total eclipse 
of the sun between six and seven in the morning. 
It lasted half an hour, "and," says the chronicler, 
" nothing whatever could one see, any more than 
if it had been night and there had been no 
moon." People crowded into the churches, and 
every one thought the world was coming to an 
end. " However, the thing passed off, and the 
astronomers assembled and said that the thing was 
very strange and the sign of a great evil to come." 2 

Two more royal marriages took place. Isabelle, 
Queen of England, was married to Charles, eldest 
son of the Due d'Orleans, and her little brother Jean, 
to Jacqueline, daughter of the Comte de Hainault 
and niece of the Duke of Burgundy. Isabelle hated 
this marriage and cried all the time, it was said at 
court, because she thereby lost the title of Queen of 
England. Miss Strickland, in her life of that Queen, 
observes that if she had been so anxious to keep the 
crown of England, she could easily have done so by 
marrying King Henry V., and that her grief was 
caused by her love for King Richard. But at any 
rate, it is not difficult to understand that a girl of 
seventeen might well object to be married to a boy of 

1 Juvenal des Ursins, p. 177. 2 Juvenal des Ursins. 



1407] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 235 

fifteen, 1 and her cousin, besides the fact of his being a 
subject while she had been a queen. Miss Strickland 
goes on to state that after a short time she became 
reconciled to this marriage, Charles of Orleans being 
accomplished and precocious beyond his years, and 
devoted to her, but it was cut short by her early 
death. 

After the weddings the Comtesse de Hainault 
wished to take the Due de Touraine back with her. 
The Queen objected, and a dispute arose, but as it 
had been agreed in the contract that he should be 
under her care, she got her way, took leave of the 
Queen (the King was then ill), and returned to 
Hainault. The Count came to meet them with a 
brilliant suite and received the young prince with 
great ceremony, and in every place through which 
they passed was music and rejoicing. The children 
had the household of sovereign princes, and the 
Count tried to educate his son-in-law in the ways 
of the country, that he might live in harmony with 
his future subjects. The King, when he recovered, 
made no objection, but consented to the Count's 
request that his son should be brought up in 
Hainault. 2 

Never within the memory of any one alive had 
been seen such a winter as that of 1407. The snow 
lay deep on the ground, wells were frozen to an 
extraordinary depth, wine was frozen in the barrel 

1 Many historians make out Isabelle and Charles to have been 
younger, which is impossible, as she was born in November, 1388, and 
he in May, 1391. 

2 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xxvii. p. 397. 



236 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1407 

and bread at the bakers. Many people died of the 
cold, and it was known as " le grand hiverT ' J The 
frost lasted sixty-six days, beginning in November. 
Louis d'Orleans had been ill on and off all the 
autumn, and had been staying at Beaute for the 
benefit of the fresh air of the forest which his father 
had so loved. Valentine and her children were still 
in the country, and the King at the Louvre. Isabeau 
had for some time been living in the hotel Barbette, 
where she had given birth to her twelfth and last 
child, who was christened Philippe and died soon 
after. Isabeau was still weak, and had not recovered 
from her illness ; she had displayed extraordinary 
grief at the death of this baby, for whom it was said 
she showed more affection than for any of her other 
children. She was altogether low and depressed in 
spirits, and Louis came every day to see and console 
her. 

He was just then living at the hotel de Nesle, 
not the great palace opposite the Louvre, but the 
one afterwards called the hotel de Soissons, whence 
he and his daily rides to the hotel Barbette were 
known and watched by the men of Burgundy. 

On Wednesday evening, November 23, 1407, 
Louis and Isabeau were having supper and spending 
the evening together at the hotel Barbette. Isabeau 
was splendidly dressed in long robes and an enormous 
headdress with horns, covered with jewels. It was 
only eight o'clock, but the night was dark and all the 
shops in that quarter were closed. Suddenly a 
messenger from the King was announced for the 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis.*' 






>//" /, "./iii:/h:' : ^ 




HOTEL BARBETTE. 



238 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1407 

Due d'Orleans, who said that he desired at once to 
see the Duke, as he had an important matter to 
speak to him about. 

Louis rose, took his leave, and went out. Mounting 
his mule, 1 he rode carelessly along, swinging his 
embroidered glove and humming a song as he 
went. He was only accompanied by two esquires, 
both riding the same horse, a young German page 
or esquire, and four or five varlets carrying torches. 
As they passed a dark corner by a wall close to 
the house of the Marechal d'Evreux the horse of 
the two esquires seems to have been aware of the 
presence of some men concealed in the darkness, 
snorted violently, and ran away. The assassins 
rushed out and assailed the Duke, who, thinking it 
was a mistake, exclaimed, " I am the Due d'Orleans," 
to which, however, the reply was, "It is you we want." 
The two esquires looked round, expecting he was 
following them, and seeing the struggle, managed to 
stop their horse, and returned. Louis d'Orleans lay 
dead on the ground, covered with wounds ; his 
German page, who had defended him to the last, 
died as they came up, muttering, " Mon maitre." 
The assassins rode off at full speed, laughing and 
strewing chaussetrapes, or calthrops, behind them, 
and setting fire to a house to divert attention from 
their flight. In a moment cries of alarm resounded 
on all sides ; the street was full of torches ; some of 
the followers of the Duke rushed back to the hotel 
Barbette to tell the Queen, who heard the tumult 

1 It was the custom to use mules to go about in the town, also for 
two to ride the same horse on these occasions. 



1407] CHARLES VI. AND IS A BEAU DE B AVI ERE 239 

with terror and did not know what was hap- 
pening. 

Felibien says that the murderers came out of a 
house called Notre Dame, because over the door was 
an image of our Lady, and that it was opposite that 
of the Marechal de Rieux. This house they had 
hired for the purpose, and had been hidden in it for a 
fortnight. They were eighteen in number. The wife 
of a shoemaker said that she opened her window, and 
looking out into the street, she saw the Duke and his 
little group of attendants come out of the hotel 
Barbette ; then the attack of the murderers, the short 
fight, the fall of the Duke, his page, and another of 
his followers ; and that after all was over a tall man 
wrapped in a cloak, with a red hood drawn over his 
face, came out of a house opposite, which had lately 
been bought by the Duke of Burgundy, and pushing 
with his foot the body of Orleans, said, " // est mort, 
eteignez tous et allons nous en!' She shouted, "Murder ! 
Fire ! " out of the window, but they turned with 
threatening words and ordered her to be silent. The 
Marechal de Rieux, a friend and partisan of Louis 
d'Orleans, hearing the clamour and cries, came out of 
his hotel with a torch, and to his horror found him 
lying dead, with his German page also dead and 
another of his followers dying ; the rest had fled. 
The body of Louis was carried to the nearest church, 
and then to that of the Celestins, and laid in the 
chape lie d'Orleans, which he had founded. x 

Isabeau, wild with fear, ordered her litter at once, 
got into it, and was carried to the hotel St. Paul, 

1 Felibien, Monstrelet, Paradin, " Relig. de St. Denis," &c. 



240 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1407 

where she took refuge with the King, taking up her 
abode in the room adjoining his ; while the news 
spread through Paris, and the nobles, hastily arming, 
flocked to St. Paul to guard the King, all the gates 
of Paris were closed but two, which were strictly 
guarded and count kept of all who passed out or in. 

The King, filled with grief and anger, sent for the 
provost of Paris and ordered him to find out the 
assassins, and there was a general wonder who was 
the instigator of this crime. Suspicions fell upon the 
Sieur de Canny, who had cause enough to hate Louis 
d'Orleans, but it appeared that he had not been in or 
near Paris at the time ; and on the 25th the provost 
of Paris presented himself at the hotel St. Paul where 
the princes were assembled, as a council was about 
to be held, and came into the apartment where they 
were all waiting for the time for it to begin. The 
King of Sicily and the Dukes of Burgundy, Berry, 
and Bourbon were present, besides other princes of 
the blood. 1 

The Duke of Burgundy was standing by a window 
talking to the King of Sicily when the provost of 
Paris appeared and said that he believed he could 
find out the author of the crime if he might have 
permission to search the hotels of all the princes. 2 It 
appeared that a scullion who had acted as spy for the 
murderers had been seen to escape and enter the 
hotel d'Artois, or Burgundy. 

All the princes at once gave leave for their palaces 

1 De Mezeray, Monstrelet, Felibien, &c. 

2 The hotels of princes of the blood were sanctuary, as well as the 
churches. 



1407] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE B A VI ERE 241 

to be searched except the Duke of Burgundy, who 
hesitated and changed colour, and the King of Sicily 
asked him if he knew anything of the affair. Taking 
him and the Due de Berry aside, he confessed his 
guilt. " Cest vwi qui ai fait le coup et ne sais comme 
il s est fait, ilfaut que le diable niait tente et surprise 
The princes looked at each other in consternation. 
" Dieu ! " exclaimed the Due de Berry, "je perds 
aujourcFhui vies deux neveux ! " 

Next day, when he presented himself to attend the 
council at the hotel de Nesle, the Due de Berry 
stopped him, saying he had better not go in, as it 
would please no one to see him there ; he had better 
go back to his hotel. The Duke of Burgundy left the 
palace, the Comte de Saint-Pol refusing to accompany 
him, got fresh horses, and fled to the nearest fortress 
belonging to him, cutting the Pont Saint Maxence 
behind him to stop pursuit. The Due de Bourbon 
indignantly asked the Due de Berry, " Why did you 
let him go ? " He grieved sincerely for his nephew, 
and never again would sit at a council, or enter a 
room, or go to any place where the Duke of Burgundy 
was. 



17 



CHAPTER VII 

I407-I4 1 2 

Departure of royal family — Hundred Years' War — Valentine d'Orltans 
— Queen returns to Louvre — Death of Valentine — Forced reconcilia- 
tion — Philippe de Bourgogne and Michelle de France — Misconduct 
of the Due de Bretagne — Death of Isabelle de France — Of the 
Due de Bourbon — Quarrels of the Duke and Duchess of Aquitaine 
— Of the princes. 

NEVER did there appear to be a more con- 
spicuous example of successful crime than the 
one recorded in the last chapter. Jean Sans-peur 
had satisfied his vengeance and got rid of his rival, 
and although retribution eventually fell upon him, he 
was for many years able to rejoice in his deed and 
escape the punishment of it by reason of his powerful 
position and the weakness of those opposed to him. 

For Charles VI. was in a much worse state of 
health than he had been at the time of the attack 
on Clisson, and though he was transported with 
sorrow and indignation and swore vengeance upon the 
murderers, he almost immediately fell into one of his 

fits of madness, and when he got better he was so 

242 



1407] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 243 

confused and weak as to be unable to take any 
decided measures. The Queen had implored him to 
punish the assassins, but she had no power to do so 
when he was again mad, and, fearing for her own 
safety, she left Paris with the Duke of Aquitaine, his 
wife, her other children and her brother, and took up 
her abode at Melun with them. 1 The other members 
of the royal family were afraid of the Duke of 
Burgundy, 2 who besides his violent character and 
immense power, could easily have endangered France 
by throwing in his lot with the English, who were 
carrying on the war, notwithstanding the absurd 
injustice of the claim they put forward to the crown 
of France. 

It will be remembered that, as was explained in 
the former volume,3 Edward III. of England claimed 
that throne through his mother, Isabella, daughter of 
Philippe IV., and persisted in it, although it was 
finally decided that the Valois, as nearest heirs male, 
descending from Charles, brother of that King, were 
the lawful possessors of the throne ascending to the 
loi salique or Salic law r , which henceforward was 
adopted by the country ; and notwithstanding the 
existence of daughters and grandsons through 
them, who would have come before the sister of 
the then last Kings, Louis Hutin, Philippe-le-Long 
and Charles-le-Bel, supposing the female line to have 
been admitted at all. 

But Henry IV. had still less pretensions than 
Edward III., for he was not the lawful heir even of 

1 Vallet de Viriville. 2 Sismondi, "Hist. France." 

3 " Lives of the Early Valois Queens," Catherine Bearne, p. 8. 



244 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1407 

the English King. If, as has been shown, the claim 
of King Edward was an unjust one, of course he had 
no ground to stand upon. If, on the other hand, it 
were a just one, then it would belong, not to the 
descendant of his third son, John of Gaunt, Duke of 
Lancaster, but to the Mortimers, who descended by 
the female line from Lionel, Duke of Clarence, his 
second son, Richard II., son of the Black Prince, 
having left no children. In fact, the Mortimers were 
the right heirs to the crown of England. 1 

However, the English were still a very serious 
danger for France, and the Duke of Burgundy would 
have been an invaluable ally, whom, in consequence, 
they did not dare to drive to desperation. And as 
he always posed as a friend of the people when he 
wanted to injure Louis d'Orleans, who was supposed 
to be their chief oppressor, he was very popular with 
the credulous mob, who did not, after the first horror 
caused by the assassination of the King's brother, 
trouble themselves much about it, but said, alluding 
to the knotted stick which had been the emblem of 
Orleans, and the plane of Burgundy, " Le baton 
noueux est en fin rabote." 2 

Louis d'Orleans had been buried with great solem- 
nity in the Chapelle d'Orleans of the Celestins, all the 
princes of the blood, including his murderer, attending 
in white mantles, the day before the council at which 
the Duke of Burgundy had owned his guilt. Valen- 
tine was still in the country when the news was 

1 The Yorkists claimed the crown of England by a marriage with 
the heiress of the elder line, i.e., of Lionel. 

2 Monstrelet, " Chronique," t. i. c. 43, p. 165. 



1408] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE B AVI ERE 245 

brought to her, with her children. Overwhelmed 
with grief, she sent her daughter and her two eldest 
boys, the young Due d'Orleans and the Comte de 
Vertus, for safety, to the strong castle of Blois, and 
with her youngest son and her daughter-in-law, the 
Princess Isabelle, she set off, in spite of the fearful 
cold, to Paris, where they arrived on December 10th, 
went to the hotel St. Paul, threw themselves at the 
feet of the King, who had got better again, and im- 
plored justice on the murderer. Charles received his 
daughter and sister-in-law with kindness and affection, 
and promised all they asked, but early in January 
another of his attacks came on, and Valentine seeing 
that nothing could be done and not thinking herself 
safe, as the Duke of Burgundy seemed all powerful 
at Paris where he had returned amid the acclamations 
of the mob, retired to Blois, and fortified herself 
there with her children. 1 

The great frost broke up and the melting of the 
snow and ice swelled the rivers into frightful torrents, 
carrying away houses, trees, and cattle. The monk 
of St. Denis says that he saw in the Seine masses of 
ice three hundred feet long dashing against each 
other, destroying boats and bridges. At Paris, on the 
second day of the thaw, the pont St. Michel was 
swept away, with all the houses on it, and so was a 
wooden bridge on the other branch of the Seine. 
Much it was feared that the Grand Pont also would 

1 Monstrelet, c. 37, p. 229. " Relig. de St. Denis." The Duke of 
Burgundy before an assembly of princes boldly tried to justify the 
murder, and employed a friar to speak for that purpose. Charles 
was induced in his weak state to sign letters of pardon for him. 



246 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1408 

give way, as it shook terribly with the icicles, but 
only fourteen shops fell. The roads were impassable 
by reason of the rocks and trees with which they 
were covered by the floods. Many mills were des- 
troyed, and the price of bread rose. The King 
ordered all bakers to sell flour at the same price, but 
great distress prevailed, and no one alive had ever 
seen such a winter. 1 

About May the Princess Marie took the perpetual 
vows at Poissy, in presence of the King, Queen, and 
court. 

The King went to Melun to visit the Queen, who 
had sent for the provost of Paris and made him tell 
her all that had been done there, and found that the 
Duke of Burgundy had been trying to throw upon 
her the same suspicions of magic that he had formerly 
done upon the Duchesse d'Orleans. He had now 
left Paris, and Isabeau, greatly incensed, resolved to 
return there in state. Charles was taken ill again 
the day after his visit to Melun, and Isabeau sent for 
several of the princes, including Berry, Bourbon, 
Alencon, and the young Due de Bretagne, husband 
of her second daughter Jeanne, and went to Paris 
escorted by them, in a gilded coach, the Dauphin 
Louis, who was usually called Due d'Aquitaine, 
riding in the procession for the first time, with a 
guard of three thousand men in armour. Proclama- 
tions were issued that any one misbehaving or causing 
any disturbance would be imprisoned in the Chatelet, 
which was indeed no desirable place of abode. 2 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xxviii. p. 749. 

2 Ibid., liv. xxix. p. 59. 



i4o3] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 247 

The Queen took up her residence in the strong 
fortress of the Louvre with her children, where she 
doubtless felt safer than in the hotel St. Paul, and had 
herself appointed regent in case of the King's illness. 

The princes were divided between their anger at 
the murder of Orleans and their fear of Burgundy, 
but as he was now absent, the Duchesse d'Orleans 
and her children came to Paris and appealed to the 
Due d'Aquitaine and other princes for vengeance on 
the murderer of their husband and father. The King 
was just then ill again. As he, when in his mad state, 
either did not know Isabeau at all, or else was so 
fierce that she could not go near him without danger 
to her life, she had ceased to take much trouble about 
him. In fact, a young girl called Odette had been 
chosen, with the full consent of the Queen, to be his 
mistress and constant companion. She seems to 
have been the only consolation of Charles, who was 
devoted to her ; always listened to her in his most 
insane moments, and did whatever she told him. 
She was called by the household and courtiers, " La 
petite reine." Their daughter, named Marguerite de 
Valois, was recognised by the King, and afterwards 
married to a French noble. 

The monk of St. Denis says she was of low origin, 
and such has been the general opinion ; but M. Vallet 
de Viriville says there is good reason to suppose her 
to have been the daughter of Odin de Champdivers, 
a Burgundian gentleman who had a chateau near 
Dole, where, after the death of Charles, she took 
refuge. 1 

1 " Isabeau de Baviere," p. 15, Vallet de Viriville. 



248 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1408 

While the Queen and princes were deliberating on 
the means of punishing Jean Sans-peur, the news of 
his victorious return from an expedition to Flanders 
filled them with consternation. The Queen first tried 
to borrow money to escape with the King and her 
children, but no one would lend her any. The King, 
therefore, left Paris with the Due de Bourbon on the 
3rd of November, and went by boat to the Celestins, 
and thence to St. Victor with 1,500 men. The Queen, 
with the Duke and Duchess of Aquitaine, 1 the rest of 
the children, the Due de Berry, the Kings of Sicily 
and Navarre left two days later, went down the Loire 
to Tours and joined the King. The Duke of Bur- 
gundy entered Paris amidst cries of " Noel ! Noel ! " 
from the populace. 2 

Valentine Visconti, Duchesse d'Orleans, despairing 
of getting either justice or vengeance, returned to 
Blois with her children, and also the little son of 
Louis d'Orleans and the Dame de Canny, the after- 
wards famous Dunois, the Bastard of Orleans. 

Jean Sans-peur, finding the King, Queen, and 
royal family all gone, was much disturbed. He 
resolved to negotiate, and persuaded his brother-in- 
law, the Comte de Hainault, who was also father-in-law 
to the King's second son, to go to Tours for that 
purpose. 

Perhaps what made peace with Burgundy more 
possible was the death of Valentine Visconti on the 

1 Before the final expulsion of the English, Aquitaine was gradually 
taking the name of Guyenne. But, when it became the settled name, 
Guyenne did not include Gascony, Limousin, Saintonge, Anjoumois, 
and Poitou. 

2 " Reli£. de St. Denis." 



1408] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 249 

4th of December, at Blois. Overcome with grief, 
disappointment, and anxiety, her health had given 
way. She took for her device a chante-pleurs T 
dropping tears, and the motto " Rien ne m'est plus ; 
plus ne m'est rien" which she had embroidered on the 
black hangings of her room. She always charged 
her sons to avenge their father, and pointing to the 
little Jean (afterwards Dunois), then six years old, 
she said, " Celui-ld via etc enleve, il riy a point 
d' enfant si bien taille pour venger la vwrt de son pere." 
As the result of the negotiations an interview was 
arranged in solemn state in the church of Notre 
Dame de Chartres. A platform was raised before 
the great crucifix, all around sat the King, Queen, 
Kings of Sicily and Navarre, Dukes de Berry and 
Bourbon, the Cardinal de Bar, the Archbishop of 
Sens, and all the princes and great nobles. The 
Duke of Burgundy, with his advocate, then came 
forward and knelt before the King, the advocate 
making a speech of which the arrogance was only 
thinly veiled by the formal respect for the sovereign, 
ending by asking pardon for the Duke of Burgundy, 
to which the latter added, " Sire, de ce ie vous prie." 
The King was silent, but the Due de Berry knelt 
before, the Queen, whispering something to her, upon 
which she rose, and with the Due d'Aquitaine and the 
Kings of Sicily and Navarre, knelt and joined in the 
request, to which he replied, " Notes le voulous et 
accordons pour Vamour de vous!' The Duke of 
Burgundy and his advocate then approached the 
young princes of Orleans, who in deep mourning 

1 Historians differ as to what this meant. 



250 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1408 

and with tearful eyes stood behind the King ; the 
advocate saying : " Messeigneurs void le Due de Bour- 
gogne qui vous prie qu'il vous plaise oster de vos cosurs 
la vengeance ou hayne que porriez avoir contre luy 
pour Vexces fait et perpetre en la personne de Mon- 
seigneur a" Orleans vostre pere et que doresnavant vous 
demourez et soyez bons amys ensemble ; " to which 
Burgundy added, " et de ce ie vous en prie!' The 
princes of Orleans, of whom the eldest, the young 
Duke, was then seventeen, stood in silence, and it was 
only in obedience to the desire of the King that they 
reluctantly, and with tears, answered, " Sire, puis- 
qiiil vous plait commander, nous luy accordons sa 
requeste, et luy pardonnons toute la maleveillance que 
aurions contre luy car en rien ne voulons desobeir a 
chose qui soit a vostre plaisir." 1 Peace was then signed, 
sealed, and sworn upon the gospels, but in spite of 
the grandeur and solemnity of the scene and the 
intense interest and importance of the occasion, the 
whole thing was a hollow and worthless form. There 
was no repentance in the heart of Jean Sans-peur, 
and no forgiveness in those of the sons, friends, and 
followers of Louis and Valentine d'Orleans. i\s to 
the Queen, she was too weak and shallow for any 
lasting passion or feeling, in which her son the Due 
d'Aquitaine closely resembled her. He expressed 
great anger at the murder of his uncle, and yet he 
persuaded his father to appoint the Duke of Burgundy 
his guardian. It is true that at this time he was only 
twelve years old, but the same vacillating, unreliable 
character was the despair of his friends and of France 

1 Paradin, " Annales de Bourgogne," liv. iii. p. 518. 



1408] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 251 

during- his life. Burgundian one week and Armagnac 
the next, he, like his mother, was neither to be trusted 
by friends nor feared by enemies. 

The King and Queen returned to Paris in March. 
All the Queen's ladies were dressed in white, and 
there was much feasting at the palaces of the King 
and Queen, and the hotels of the nobles and chief 
burghers. 1 

In June the Princess Michelle was married to the 
eldest son of the Duke of Burgundy, Philippe, Comte 
de Charolais, and this marriage turned out very 
happily, for Michelle, then seventeen years old, was 
a charming character, like her sisters, and Philippe 
was in most respects unlike his fierce, unscrupulous 
father. Gay, kind-hearted, and affectionate, he was 
known as Philippe-le-Bon, and was adored by his 
subjects as no other duke had been since all Bur- 
gundy mourned for Philippe de Rouvre, the last of 
the beloved Capetienne house. 

In August the Duke of Burgundy was hastily 
summoned by the King and Queen to come to Paris 
and bring a strong body of men-at-arms who might 
be wanted, as there was a serious quarrel going on 
with the Due de Bretagne, husband of their second 
daughter Jeanne ; who had not only brought over 2 a 
number of English and made war on the Comtesse 
de Penthievre, but had quarrelled with his wife because 
she opposed his proceedings, and was even said to 
have struck her. Her father and mother were, of 

1 Juvenal des Ursins. 

2 Jeanne de Navarre, mother of the Due de Bretagne, had, as a 
widow, become the wife of Henry IV. of England. 



252 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1409 

course, much incensed at this, so they resolved to send 
the Duke of Burgundy and some of the other princes 
to attack and subdue him. Jean Sans-peur was all 
the more willing as the Comte de Penthievre had 
married one of his daughters, so he came at once with 
his troops, and preparations were going on vigorously 
for the invasion of Bretagne ; but the Duke, hearing 
of the indignation of his mother-in-law, " et de ceux 
qui gouvernoit le roz," became so frightened that he 
came to Paris and made his submission. All the 
princes were very angry, and the Due d'Orleans, his 
brother-in-law, told him that the lion in his heart was 
not bigger than that of a child of a year old. 1 In fact, 
he seems to have been what some in these days would 
call " well hustled," and it would appear that the 
quarrel between him and the Princess Jeanne was 
made up. One may imagine that at any rate he must 
have altered his conduct as we find years after, that 
the Penthievres having taken him prisoner and 
threatened his life, she persuaded her brother, the 
Dauphin, to forbid them to do him any injury, and 
taking up arms herself she besieged and took their 
castles and forced them to set him at liberty. 

The next calamity that happened was the death, at 
Blois, of the Princess Isabelle, Duchesse d'Orleans, in 
giving birth to her first child. The young duke was 
overwhelmed with grief, and the only consolation he 
seemed to find at first was in the infant daughter who 
survived. 2 In her " Life of Isabelle de Valois," Miss 
Strickland declares that the second marriage of 
Isabelle had been an extremely happy one, and 

1 Monstrelet, " Chron.," 1. ii. p. 96, edition Buchon. - Idem. 



1409] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 253 

remarks upon the talents and virtues of the young 
Charles d'Orleans, the well-known poet, of whose des- 
pairing verses on the death of Isabelle she gives a 
translation, also of a later poem, which she declares to 
have been written on the same subject. 1 The young 
duke gave the rich dresses belonging to her to make 
vestments for the abbey of St. Denis, where prayers 
were said for her. 

But none of the misfortunes that befel the royal 
family or the country stopped the gaieties of the court. 
The King was at the Palais for Christmas and sent 
for the Queen, who was at Vincennes, to come and 
join him and bring the Due d'Aquitaine, who had 
hitherto remained under her care. The princes went 
to meet her and various splendid entertainments took 
place when she arrived. She formally gave the Due 
d'Aquitaine into the care of the King, who appointed 
the Duke of Burgundy his governor. Nothing, how- 
ever, could be done in council without consent of the 
Queen. The Dues de Berry and Bourbon, disap- 
proving of the overweening power of Jean Sans-peur, 
left Paris and retired to their chateaux. 

Jeanne, Duchesse de Bretagne, who had a son in 
this year, was very anxious that her brother the Due 
d'Aquitaine should come and attend her " lever" He 
was not allowed to do so, but a seigneur was sent 
instead, with splendid jewels as presents for her. 2 

1 M. de Maulde de Claviere, however, in his interesting history of 
Louis XII., son of Charles, says that, with respect to the second at 
any rate of these poems, it is not known for whom it was meant, it was 
written during his captivity in England. There is, however, no reason 
why it should not have been about Isabelle. 

2 Monstrelet, " Chroniques," c. Ixv. p. 81, edition Doiiet d'Arcq. 



254 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1410 

The monk of St. Denis in his chronicle tells us 
that in the early part of July there was a strange 
omen in Hainault. Innumerable flocks of birds of 
prey assembled and fought in the air, as if leagued 
against each other. Storks, herons, and magpies 
attacked rooks, crows, and jays, and a fierce battle 
ended in the victory of the former, the ground being 
strewn with the bodies of the latter, and causing 
people " of learning and experience " to say that 
bloody battles would soon be going on. 1 

It was a tolerably safe prediction to make at that 
time, more especially as the death of Louis had not, 
as the Duke of Burgundy supposed it would, anni- 
hilated the party of his opponents. On the contrary 
the Orleanists married the young Duke Charles, now 
a widower, to Bonne, daughter of Bernard, Comte 
d'Armagnac, one of the most powerful nobles in the 
kingdom. He claimed descent from Clovis and had 
married a daughter of the Due de Berry. Brave, 
liberal, unscrupulous, a faithful friend, and a relentless 
foe, he was the man chosen by the princes to take the 
leadership of the party which none of them were 
capable of holding themselves. From this time the 
name of the party changed from Orleanist to 
Armagnac, and the strife became fiercer and more 
desperate than it had ever been under the leadership 
of the more gentle, easy going Louis. 

The royal family and court had sustained a great 
loss in the death of the Due de Bourbon, who died in 
August, 1410, on his way to help the Armagnacs at 
the head of his troops, for he had never for an instant 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xxxi. p. 333. 



1410] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 255 

been persuaded to condone the murder of his nephew 
by the Duke of Burgundy. The lofty character and 
noble life of Louis II., Due de Bourbon, stand out 
conspicuously amidst the corruption and depravity 
with which he was surrounded during his later years. 
When the court and rule of his brother-in-law and 
sister had fallen to his nephews, Isabeau, and the 
brothers of Charles V., the Duchesse de Bourbon 
withdrew from court and lived almost entirely with 
her children on their own estates in the Bourbonnais, 
where he also spent a great deal of his time, although 
obliged to be frequently at Paris and elsewhere with 
his nephews, to whom he was always a good friend 
and who were extremely fond of him. The only 
letter existing in the handwriting of Charles VI. is to 
him. As a son, brother, husband, father, soldier, 
statesman, and ruler, he was idolised, and after his 
death his funeral train, as it travelled through the 
country was followed by crowds of people weeping 
and lamenting. He had, with the consent of the 
Duchess, intended after this last expedition to retire 
to the monastery of the Celestins at Vichy, and after 
his death two knotted cords were found under his 
clothes, which he wore secretly. He knew he could 
not recover, received the last sacraments and prayed 
constantly, dying peacefully at the age of seventy- 
three, leaving a stainless name and a heroic example. 1 
Meanwhile the dissensions amongst the different 
members of the royal family only increased. The 
marriage of the Due d'Aquitaine with Marguerite de 
Bourgogne had turned out as badly as possible. He 

1 La Mure, " Hist. Dues de Bourgogne, &c." 



256 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1412 

slighted and neglected her and made open love to 
other people. One of the ladies of the Queen's 
household especially was his mistress, he wore her 
colours and device to the great indignation of the 
Duke of Burgundy, who took the part of his daughter. 
Isabeau seems to have done the same, for it is fre- 
quently mentioned that the Duchesse d'Aquitaine was 
with the Queen while the Duke was elsewhere. 

There was open war between Burgundians and 
Armagnacs. The Duke of Burgundy had placed his 
own people in the household of his son-in-law, and 
tried by all means to gain influence over him, which 
seemed to be easy enough, and to retain it, which 
was not easy at all, as no dependence whatever could 
be placed on any friendship, affection, or opinion of 
his lasting a single week. The Comte de Clermont, 
Due de Bourbon by the death of his father, was like 
him, an Orleanist. In company with the Dues de 
Berry and Orleans, the Comtes d'Alencon and 
Armagnac, and the Sire d'Albret he had entered into 
a treaty with the English, offering, among other con- 
cessions, to restore to them the duchy of Aquitaine. 
This treaty was discovered and the above-named 
princes, who had taken refuge in Bourges, were besieged 
there by the Burgundians about the end of June, 1412. 

But the Due d'Aquitaine began to get tired of these 
constant quarrels of Burgundians and Armagnacs, for 
whose sake the kingdom, which was his own inherit- 
ance, was being wasted and destroyed, and he resolved 
to put a stop to the war. To the consternation of his 
father-in-law he forbade the gunners and engineers to 
fire any more, or to demolish or destroy the walls 




BOURGES. 



18 



258 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1412 

gates, or fortifications of Bourges, saying that the war 
had gone on long enough. The Duke of Burgundy 
said that the sooner it was finished the better, only it 
must be by the complete subjection of the Armagnacs. 
To which the Due d'Aquitaine rejoined that he would 
doubtless welcome their submission to the King, his 
father, but that in any case this had gone on too long 
already, to the detriment of the kingdom ; that the 
discredit would fall upon him, the heir of France, and 
that the opposing party were his uncles, cousins, and 
near relations, against whom he refused any longer to 
fight. The Duke of Burgundy was obliged to submit, 
the siege was raised and peace for a short time 
restored. 1 

The princes and court returned to Paris, where the 
usual amusements and festivities began again. The 
Due d'Aquitaine was the leader of all the follies and 
dissipation that went on. He was as extravagant and 
licentious as his uncle Louis d'Orleanshad been, with- 
out his intellect or charm. 

Louis d'Orleans, in spite of his countless infidelities, 
lived on good terms with his wife, but the Due 
d'Aquitaine seems not only to have been unfaithful, 
but brutal. He was not without cultivation, spoke 
Latin almost as well as French, and was exceedingly 
fond of music, but he cared nothing for the affairs of 
state, spent his nights in balls, suppers, and enter- 
tainments, and stayed in bed all day. His life 
seemed even more full of dissipation and debauchery 
than those of his father and uncle, while it was not 
redeemed by any of the gallant, warlike deeds of a 

1 Paradin, "Annales de Bourgogne," liv. iii. p. 560. 






141 2] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 259 

soldier's life, such as had won them popularity even in 
early boyhood. Every one complained of the Due 
d'Aquitaine ; his father-in-law was indignant at his 
behaviour to his wife, very serious apprehensions were 
entertained for his health amongst the members of the 
royal family, the people pointed to the example of his 
father, whose manner of life had caused his madness, 
and predicted that if he went on so he would lose his 
reason in the same way, and even the Queen several 
times threatened that unless he reformed his conduct 
in some degree the succession to the throne should be 
transferred to his brother Jean, Due de Touraine, who, 
in the charge of his father-in-law, the Comte de 
Hainault, was being better brought up. 



CHAPTER VIII 
Hi 3-1435 

Riots led by Burgundy — The Due d'Aquitaine's ball — His quarrels with 
Burgundy — The Comte de Charolais — Battle of Azincourt — Death 
of Aquitaine — The Dauphin Jean — His court — His death — Im- 
prisonment of the Queen — Jean Sans-peur rescues her — Enters 
Paris by night — Massacre of Armagnacs — The Dauphin Charles — 
Murder of Jean Sans-peur — Marriage of Catherine de France to 
Henry V. — Departure for England— Birth of a son — Return to 
Paris — Festivities — Death of Henry V.— Death of Charles VI. — 
Retirement of the Queen — Plenry VI. enters Paris — Treaty of 
Arras — Death of Isabeau. 

IT was May, 141 3, the court was at Saint Paul. 
The King had just recovered from one of his 
attacks. Every one had been, dressed in white hoods, 
to Notre Dame to give thanks, and now the important 
event was the wedding to be celebrated on the follow- 
ing day between the Queen's brother, Duke Ludwig 
of Bavaria, and Catherine d'Alengon, widow of Pierre 
de Navarre, Comte de Mortaigne. 

There had been a good deal of uneasiness in the 
air for some time and the war with England was going 
on. When peace was made between Burgundians and 

Armagnacs, the latter were obliged to break their 

260 



1413] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 261 

alliance with the English king, whose troops under 
his second son, the Duke of Clarence, had ever since 
been ravaging Normandy, Picardy, and Maine, not- 
withstanding that the little Comte d'Angouleme, the 
youngest of the Orleans princes, had been given them 
as a hostage. They were also attacking some of the 
southern parts of France, and swore they would regain 
the duchy of Aquitaine, their ancient patrimony. Two 
months ago Henry IV. had died, and the Prince of 
Wales, now Henry V., hitherto remarkable chiefly for 
his fast, disorderly, somewhat scandalous life, seemed 
likely to be a powerful and dangerous enemy. The 
populace of Paris were deeply discontented, as well 
they might be, for it was openly declared that the 
expenses of the King's household, which used to be 
94,000 francs were now 450,000, and yet the trades- 
men were not paid ; that although the allowance for 
the King and Queen's alms went on, scarcely any 
alms were ever given ; that some of the royal servants 
and officers received enormous salaries, while others 
could never get any wages paid at all ; and that, in 
spite of the sums allowed for the repair of the King's 
castles and palaces, they were in such a state that they 
would soon fall into ruins. 

The Duke of Burgundy had his own reasons for 
wishing to stir up the people. He was afraid of 
certain transactions by which he had got hold of a 
large sum of money being made known by Pierre des 
Essarts, provost of Paris, who held his receipts for 
them, and now belonged to the Orleanists ; he was 
uneasy about the power and favour of that party 
and the estrangement of the Due d'Aquitaine, who 



262 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1413 

disliked him because he was so overbearing and 
disagreeable. 

The Due d'Aquitaine had been warned that an 
attack upon the hotel St. Paul was intended, and 
advised to arm his household, raise the banner with 
the fleur-de-lis over the entrance and defend himself. 
But while he was deliberating with the other princes, 
instead of taking immediate action, as any of his 
forefathers would have done, a dreadful noise began 
to be heard, and a shouting, howling, desperate mob 
was seen to be rushing down the streets towards 
the hotel St. Paul. They surrounded that palace, 
planted the standard of the city, and with loud 
cries and threats demanded to speak to the Due 
d'Aquitaine. 

Among the chief characteristics that distinguish the 
history of France from that of any other Christian or 
civilised nation are the furious, credulous, ferocious 
mobs, whose atrocious deeds continually appear in her 
annals, and who seem to belong to no particular cen- 
tury ; for whether we see them murdering nobles and' 
gentlemen with their wives and children in the four- 
teenth century, Huguenots in the sixteenth, waggon 
loads of women, young girls, and little children in 
the eighteenth — or priests and unarmed hostages in 
the nineteenth, whether they are called Jacques, or 
Leaguers, or Septembriseurs, or Communists — they 
evidently do not excite either abhorrence or shame in 
the minds of the great mass of their countrymen who 
have just raised a statue in Paris in honour of one of 
the most bloodthirsty of the wretches who acted as 
their leader in the perpetration of those cowardly 



1413] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 263 

and brutal crimes against which the rest of civilised 
humanity revolts. 

One of these mobs, not a whit more cruel and 
savage than those which yelled and howled and 
danced through the streets of Paris in our own and 
our fathers' and grandfathers' days, was now pressing 
round the hotel of the Due d'Aquitaine at Saint Paul. 
They had certainly much reason for their anger and 
complaints, but whether their cause is a bad or a good 
one the means by which they carry it out are always 
atrocious. On this occasion they put forward a 
Carmelite monk called Eustace, who gave a harangue 
on the calamities, bad government, and generally 
disastrous state of things. The Duke of Burgundy 
came down, said the King was only just recovered 
and could not bear this agitation, and advised them to 
go away. But they clamoured for the Due d'Aquitaine, 
who, terrified by the tumult and urged by the Duke 
of Burgundy, appeared at a window and promised all 
they asked. 

One of their leaders, named Jean de Troyes, then 
imposed silence, and in a speech received with 
enthusiastic applause by the people and with scarcely 
concealed indignation by the nobles, declared that 
they would do no harm to the Due d'Aquitaine, but 
demanded that his evil counsellors should be given up 
to them ; and on his chancellor imprudently asking to 
whom they referred handed up a list of fifty names, 
including not only the principal gentlemen of his 
household, but Ludwig of Bavaria, the Queen's 
brother, Edouard, Due de Bar, cousin of the King, 
and several of the Queen's ladies. The princes could 






264 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1413 

not pacify them, the Queen wept and raved, the King 
remonstrated in vain ; the Due d'Aquitaine, turning 
with a furious look to the Duke of Burgundy, ex- 
claimed, " Father-in-law, this outrage is your doing, 
for the leaders of it are the people of your house. 
Know surely that the day will come when you shall 
repent of it, for things will not always go on according 
to your pleasure." 

Some of the nobles and ladies came down and gave 
themselves up, the others were seized by the mob, 
who broke into the palace and hunted all over the 
rooms and galleries to find them, tearing one gentle- 
man out of the arms of the Duchesse d'Aquitaine, 
who tried to protect him. They were carried away 
on horseback and shut up, some in the Palais, some in 
the Louvre. 

When they were gone, the King went to dinner 
and the Due d'Aquitaine retired with the Queen into 
her room, where they shut themselves up and cried. 

Something, however, had to be done, so they sent 
the Comte de Vertus, who escaped to his brother, the 
Due d'Orlcans, told him what had happened, and 
how some of the princes were in prison, and the 
King, Queen, and Due d'Aquitaine like prisoners in 
the hands of the Parisians, and desired the rest of the 
princes to make haste to come and deliver them. 

The King of Sicily, the Dues d'Orleans, Bourbon, 
and Bretagne, the Comtes de Vertus and Alencon 
accordingly assembled at Vernon, and sent a message 
to the populace that unless the prisoners were imme- 
diately set free they would put all Paris to fire and 
sword. 



1413] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 265 

The Duke of Burgundy saw he had gone too far, 
having infuriated the Due d'Aquitaine and set all the 
princes against him, the University of Paris hastened 
to disassociate herself with the riots, and the chief 
bourgeois, frightened at what had been done tried 
by all means and with many apologies, to divert and 
appease the anger of the royal family. The city was 
still very unquiet, frere Eustache went on preaching 
against Aquitaine, saying that the licentiousness and 
debauchery of such a life as he was leading had 
already caused the madness of his father and the 
death of his uncle, and that it would be better to 
declare his brother, Jean de Touraine, the heir of 
France ; while one Leon de Jacqueville forced his way 
into the ballroom of his hotel one night in the middle 
of a ball and loudly declaimed against him, saying 
that he dishonoured his rank. The Duke struck him 
three times with his dagger, but his cuirass saved 
him. The ballroom was a scene of confusion, the 
mob rushed to attack the hotel and were only stopped 
by the opportune arrival of the Duke of Burgundy, 
who dispersed them. The Due d'Aquitaine was so 
agitated by the scene that he spit blood for days 
afterwards. 1 

Burgundy, however, saw that he was rapidly losing 
friends, and thought it well to send his son, the 
Comte de Charolais, away. That young prince, 
therefore, with his wife, the Princess Michelle, set off 
for Gand, accompanied as far as Lendit by a great 
body of the bourgeois of Paris of whom she took 

1 Paradin. " Relig. de St. Denis. " Monstrelet. 



266 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1413 

leave affectionately, begging them to deliver her uncle, 
the Duke of Bavaria, and then she proceeded to St. 
Denis with her husband, after which they went with 
a brilliant train to Gand. 1 

While all these commotions were going on the 
English made a descent upon the county of Eu, 
sacked and burnt Treport and several other towns, 
took to their ships and sailed for England with their 
plunder. The Armagnacs were devastating the 
country, and the Parisians more and more terrified at 
the threats of the princes. Their party grew stronger 
and stronger, the King ordered the Due d'Aquitaine 
to go and liberate the prisoners, which he did, riding 
to the Palais and the Louvre and bringing them all 
away with him except the ladies, who had been 
liberated soon after they were taken, and two or 
three gentlemen who had been killed in the riots. 
Bells rang, feasting went on, the rioters were either 
seized and punished or else fled, and the princes 
entered Paris in triumph. 2 

The Due d'Aquitaine ordered all the favourites of 
Burgundy to be seized, one only was spared at the 
entreaty of the Duchesse d'Aquitaine, the rest were 
arrested or fled. Jean Sans-peur himself, warned 
that the streets round the hotel d'Artois were being 
watched by night by the Orleanists who were 
crowding into Paris to join the Due d'Aquitaine, 
fled from a hunting party with one gentleman only, 
rode at full speed in doubt and fear through the forest 
of Bondy, and next day meeting one of his followers 

1 Paradin. 2 Paradin. " Relig. de St. Denis." 



1414] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 267 

with a band of men-at-arms pursued his journey 
safely to Flanders. 

For a little while the Armagnacs were triumphant. 
The marriage of the Duke of Bavaria took place, and 
what was more important, Charles, Comte de Ponthieu, 
youngest son of the King, was betrothed to Marie 
d'Anjou, daughter of the King of Sicily, at the Louvre 
in presence of the Queen and Princes, the King being 
ill at the time. 

There was also a talk of marrying the Princess 
Catherine, youngest daughter of the King and Queen, 
to Henry V. of England. 

In February of 1414, with bitterly cold winds 
appeared a disease that seems just like the modern 
influenza. It was attended by cold, cough, loss of 
appetite, violent pains in the head and general 
languour. It attacked all classes; judges and lawyers 
had to suspend their courts, the malady spread and 
was very dangerous. 

A foolish step of the Queen's had just re-opened 
the routs and quarrels that always seemed now to 
rage amongst the royal family. There were certain 
gentlemen in the household of her son, the Due d' 
Aquitaine, whom she distrusted because they had 
been placed there by his father-in-law, and she wished 
to remove them. She was just then living at the 
hotel St. Paul, and the Duchesse d' Aquitaine with 
her ; the Duke was at the Louvre. Having consulted 
with the Armagnac chiefs, who were silly enough to 
countenance her plans, she went suddenly to the 
Louvre taking the Duchess with her, seized Jean de 
Croy, and three other officers of her son's household, 



268 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1414 

and threw them into prison. The Due d'Aquitaine, 
who liked them, flew into a great rage and the princes 
could hardly prevent him from rushing out to appeal 
to the mob, and could not stop him from writing 
secretly to the Duke of Burgundy to come back. 

With two such people as Isabeau and her son what 
could be done ? Jean Sans-peur set off at once with 
a body of troops — but before he could arrive Isabeau 
and the princes had contrived to pacify the Due 
d'Aquitaine and persuade him to contradict everything 
he had said, and write to the fortified towns pro- 
claiming the Duke of Burgundy an enemy of the 
King. Infuriated by this treatment, the Duke of 
Burgundy produced and displayed his son-in-law's 
letters, and continued his march towards Paris, the civil 
war beginning again with much cruelty and slaughter. 

The domestic quarrels of the royal family were 
worse than ever. The old Due de Berry disputed 
the regency during the King's frequent attacks, with 
the Due d'Aquitaine, just as he and his brother had 
done with Louis d'Orleans, and on the same pretence, 
his youth and inexperience. Aquitaine was at 
daggers drawn with his father-in-law, and so far justi- 
fied his great-uncle's assertions that besides possessing 
all the faults of his uncle, Louis d'Orleans and his 
father, he had no taste for military affairs, no 
attraction or charm, though he was rather good- 
looking. He was exceedingly unpopular, hated 
appearing in public, and shut himself up all day (when 
he was not in bed) playing the harp and epinette 
with his musical friends. If the King gave him any 
business to do he neglected it, and was so ill-tempered 



1415] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 269 

that he could not bear to be found the least fault 
with. Music, horses, and dissipation were all he 
cared for. He had now separated from his wife and 
reduced her household to a very low estate ; he had 
always disliked her. Historians say that she gave no 
cause whatever for complaint, but that people made 
mischief between them. 1 The Duke of Burgundy 
sent a message requiring him to dismiss La Cassinelle 
and take his wife back, which only made him more 
angry. He had removed her from his mother's care 
and sent her to St. Germain-en-Laye, 2 also seizing 
some treasure kept by Isabeau at the houses of con- 
fidential agents, taking advantage of the illness of 
the King his father to do as he chose. This was 
the beginning of the Queen's dislike for Armagnac, 
who was mixed up in the affair, and her inclining 
towards the Burgundian party. 

In March, 141 5, the Emperor of Germany paid a 
visit to the French Court, where he was entertained 
with the usual lavish profusion. He, in return, gave 
a great banquet at the Louvre to the ladies of the 
court and bourgeoises of Paris, " and to each one was 
laid a German knife, and the strongest wine that 
could be got. And everything was so spiced they 
could. hardly eat it. There were many minstrels, and 
after dinner they danced and some sang. And when 
they left to each was given a gold ring, which, how- 
ever was not of much value." 3 

When the summer came round the truce with 

1 "Relig. de St. Denis," xxxvi. 587. 

2 " Chronique de Flandre.'* Monstrelet, " Chron.," c. cxliii. p. 85. 

3 Juvenal des Ursins, p. 330. 



270 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1415 

England expired. English troops from Calais and 
other places began to attack the French provinces, 
and it was rumoured that King Henry was gathering 
a great host at Southampton to invade France. 

It was nearly sixty years since the battle of 
Poitiers, and seventy since that of Crecy, and there 
were old people alive who could remember the con- 
fusion, dismay, and terror of that time. The Due de 
Berry had himself been in the battle of Poitiers, from 
which he had fled ; while the Duke of Burgundy, then 
a boy of thirteen, had fought to the last beside their 
father, King Jean, and been carried prisoner with 
him to England. 

Times were still more disastrous now. With a 
mad King, a worthless heir-apparent, and a number 
of princes of the blood without either capacity or 
conduct, there were no leaders whom the people 
could trust or love, or whom they would follow 
and die for as their fathers and grandfathers did for 
Philippe de Valois, King Jean, the Due de Bourbon, 
the gallant Princes of Navarre, the heroic King of 
Bohemia, or the noble chiefs of the Capetienne house 
of Burgundy. 

However, it was necessary to make preparations. 
Enormous taxes were levied in haste, and everywhere 
bands of soldiers were hurrying up to join the army, 
and plundering the villages on their way. What the tax 
collectors left they carried off, and the people in 
terror and despair left their homes and hid in the 
woods, longing only that the campaign might be 
over, whichever side won. 1 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xxxv. p. 1002. 



1415] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 271 

Charles d'Albret was appointed commander-in- 
chief, and all the highest commands were given to 
Armagnacs. Jean Sans-peur took no post in the army 
at all, and forbade the Comte de Charolais to join ; 
being, besides politically hostile, resolved not to risk 
his only son as had been done to their cost by the 
former house of Burgundy. 

Early in August the English fleet sailed from 
Southampton, and sixteen hundred ships entered the 
Seine, passed up between Honfleur and Harfleur, and 
landed the troops, who proceeded to invest the latter 
town, which was an important commercial place and 
the key of Normandy, being a strong fortress sur- 
rounded with deep moats and massive walls and 
towers. 1 It was bravely defended, but as no help 
came from the French army which was slowly 
gathering at Vernon, the town surrendered on 
September 22nd. 

King Henry repaired, provisioned, and garrisoned 
the place, and then began his victorious march 
through France. Charles, who just then was in his 
right mind, came to Rouen with the Due d'Aquitaine 
and the rest of the princes in October, and at a 
hurried council it was decided that a battle must be 
fought, but that the King and his son should not be 
present for fear of a calamity such as befel King Jean 
at Poitiers. All over France the nobles were sum- 
moned to join the royal standard with their vassals, 
but the princes were stupid enough to refuse a body 
of six thousand armed men offered by the city of 
Paris whose services they disdained. 

1 Monstrelet, " Chron," c. cxliii. p. 85. 



272 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1415 

The Comte de Charolais, who knew there was going 
to be a battle but did not know when, was wild to get 
away and join the army. His tutors, however, had 
been warned by the terrible Duke of Burgundy that 
he made them responsible for his not doing so, and 
they were at their wits' end what to do. They did 
not like to tell the young Philippe, lest he should 
find some way of circumventing them, and when 
a summons arrived for him from the Constable 
d'Albret, he declared he would go. He was then at 
Arras, and in much perplexity they pretended to 
consent, and leaving that city got him to the castle of 
Aire, where the Constable again sent several seigneurs 
and Montjoye, King-at-arms, to fetch him. As long 
as they could the distracted tutors put off his de- 
parture, carefully concealing from him the time when 
the battle was to take place, but most of his people 
kept escaping secretly to go to the front, and at last 
they were obliged to tell him, to appease his anger, 
of his father's orders, which he dared not disobey but 
retired to his room in despair and shut himself up 
there crying. (" Moult fort pleurant"^ x 

The King of England desired to cross by the ford 
of Blanchetache, where his great-grandfather, Edward 
III., had passed over the river seventy years ago, but 
the place was too strongly guarded, so he marched 
along the bank for some distance and came up with 
the French army which was waiting for him at a 
place enclosed with little woods between the villages 
of Rousseauville and Azincourt. It was Thursday, 
October 24th, about the hour of vespers, when the 

1 Monstrelet, c. cxlvii. p. 102. 



1415] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU BE BAVIERE 273 

two armies confronted each other. Philippe, Comte 
de Nevers, and several young nobles had just been 
knighted by the hand of Boucicault, Marshal of 




MAN IN ARMOUR, FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

France. The Constable had arrived with the royal 
banner, the Oriflamme. 1 Around it rose the banners 
of the princes, barons, and chevaliers with their 

1 The battle of Azincourt was the last at which the Oriflamme appeared. 

19 



274 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1415 

followers who had flocked to the standard of France. 
Great fires were lighted, for the night was cold ; a 
drizzling rain had begun to fall, and they were 
waiting for the English army which must pass on its 
way to Calais. 

The English were hungry and tired with their long 
march, but they came up with the sound of trumpets 
and martial music, and the heavy tramp of horses 
and armed men, so that the earth seemed to tremble 
with the echo. Silently and composedly they took 
up their perilous position, well aware of the danger 
which lay before them, for the French host outnum- 
bered them by at least three to one, and had a much 
larger proportion of cavalry. But they thought of 
Crecy and Poitiers, passed the night in attending to 
their horses, bows, and armour, and prepared for 
death by confessing their sins, and receiving the 
Sacrament of the Body of Christ. 1 

The French had scarcely any musical instruments 
to rejoice their spirits, and their horses did not neigh, 
but made scarcely a sound all night, which many 
considered an evil omen. The rain and mud and 
cold depressed their spirits which sank lower as 
they, too, remembered Crecy and Poitiers. All 
night they were calling to each other in the darkness, 
and many who had been at enmity made friends 
again, forgave each other, embraced, and drank out of 
the same cup, as they thought that perhaps they were 
about to see the dawn of their last day. 2 

Still, when morning broke and they saw their own 

1 Monstrelet. 

2 " Le Fevre St. Remi," t. viii. c. 61, p. 1. Monstrelet. 



1415] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 275 

great superiority in numbers and strength, they 
gathered confidence, and thought indeed that the 
English army could not escape them. And between 
nine and ten they advanced to battle, bending their 
heads so that the arrows might not pierce through 
their visors. 

King Henry had heard mass at the break of day, 
and then mounting his grey charger had arranged 
his troops for the battle, the archers forming the right 
and left wings. He rode through the ranks and 
harangued the soldiers, pointing out the danger of 
their position, from which the only escape was 
victory. He reminded them of those other battles in 
which their fathers and grandfathers, wearied and 
outnumbered, had fought and conquered, and then 
dismounting from his horse he placed himself at the 
head of the infantry and led the attack. Twice they 
halted to take breath, and twice they came on with a 
great shout, while a shower of arrows rushed through 
the air into the vanguard of the French army. The 
English archers were slightly armed and poorly 
dressed, but strong and active ; they wore an axe or 
sword at their girdle and carried a pike to force their 
way through the thickest of the fight. In the French 
army there was neither order nor discipline. The 
King and his sons were not present as at Crecy and 
Poitiers, and the princes would obey no other leader. 
Those who were not placed in the vanguard refused 
to stay with their men but pressed forward to join the 
line of cavaliers in heavy armour who bore the 
noblest names in France, and stood in the front of 
the battle. 



276 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1415 

A squadron of cavalry was ordered to charge ; 
they were the flower of the French troops. They 
came on impetuously at a gallop, but the ground was 
soft with deep mud, the horses slipped, floundered, 
and became unmanageable, a flight of arrows falling 
amongst them added to their confusion, they turned 
and fled. Then the English throwing down bows 
and pikes, seized their swords and axes and rushed 
into the thick of the fight. They broke through the 
first division, but when they came to the second and 
third there were no leaders, as they had all gone to 
the front ranks. The subalterns could not lead the 
soldiers, who hesitated, wavered, and at last gave 
way, and the battle became a rout. The English 
were too few in number to pursue as they dared not 
separate, and Henry seeing a troop coming up, and 
thinking the enemy were being reinforced, gave the 
order to put the prisoners to death, which command 
began to be carried out, but presently, seeing that 
the troop was also retreating, the King ordered the 
massacre to be stopped, which was at once done, but 
not before many lives had been sacrificed, and a deep 
stain inflicted upon his name. 

The English lost sixteen hundred men, including 
the Duke of York and Earl of Oxford, but the losses 
of the French are said to have been ten thousand 
men and fifteen hundred prisoners. Among the dead 
were the Due de Brabant and Comte de Nevers, 
brothers of the Duke of Burgundy, the Due de Bar 
and his two brothers, the Constable d'Albret and the 
Due d'Alencon, all nearly related to the King, and 
numbers of other nobles and gentlemen. Among the 



1415] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 277 

prisoners were the Dues d'Orleans and Bourbon, the 
Comtes de Richemont and Eu, Marshal Boucicault, 
and many others of high degree. 

But the army of King Henry was too small and 
too exhausted to push its victory any further ; in fact, 
its safety appeared to him so doubtful that he ordered 
all the plunder taken to be burnt, and taking their 
prisoners with them the English troops turned their 
steps towards Calais and embarked for Dover a week 
after the victory. 1 The Queen was at Melun when 
the news of the disaster arrived. She was ill at the 
time, and had also become so stout that she had been 
obliged to give up riding, therefore in haste and 
consternation she had herself carried in a litter to 
Paris, taking with her the Duchesse d'Aquitaine, for 
fear of falling into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy, 
who directly he heard of the result of the battle and 
the losses of the Armagnacs, started for the capital at 
the head of ten thousand cavalry. The Queen and 
Duchesse d'Aquitaine were at the hotel d'Orleans, 2 
and the Due d'Aquitaine, who now returned in haste 
to Paris, went to the hotel de Bourbon ; the King, 
the Due de Berry, and Comte d'Armagnac also hurried 
back; the King of Sicily took refuge at Angers, to get 
out of the way of Jean Sans-peur, who was his bitter 
enemy, because he had first betrothed his son to the 



1 Sismondi in the account he gives of this battle says that Le Fevre 
Saint-Remi who writes of it was himself present, and to him most of 
these details are owing. The description of it is also given by the 
" Relig. de St. Denis," Monstrelet, Juvenal des Ursins, Pierre Fenin. 
Barante, Walsingham, and others. 

2 " Mem. Sire de St. Remi, ed Buchon," t. viii. p. 27. 



278 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1416 

daughter of the latter, a little child, and then changed 
his mind and sent her back to her father. 

The Due d'Aquitaine sent to forbid Burgundy to 
advance, and not liking to set his son-in-law at 
defiance he arrested his march, but in the midst of 
all the anxiety and commotion that was going on, 
Louis Due d'Aquitaine died after a few days' illness, 
having, as had always been foretold, utterly destroyed 
his constitution by the excesses of his life. Before 
his death he expressed his remorse at his conduct to 
his wife. 1 Of course there were some who declared 
that he had been poisoned, and that Jean Sans-peur 
had done it, but as his death prevented the Duke of 
Burgundy's daughter from being Queen of France 
this is not at all likely, however angry he might have 
been at Aquitaine's treatment of her and disregard 
of his own counsels. 

The next Dauphin, Jean Due de Touraine, lived 
with his wife and her family in Hainault, where the 
Queen and Council (the King being ill) sent, to desire 
him to come at once to Paris. But Jean, brought up 
by the near relations and firm allies of Burgundy, was 
far more Burgundian than his elder brother, the son- 
in-law of Jean Sans-peur. He refused to receive the 
deputation except in the presence of the Burgundian 
ambassadors, and he would not go to Paris unless 
his uncle of Burgundy might go too. Louis 
d'Aquitaine had died at the beginning of 14.16, and 
it was not until early in 141 7 that, after much dis- 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xxxv. , c. 9, p. 1016. Monstrelet, 
c. clxiv. p. 168. "Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris," p. 210. 
Paradin, Juvenal des Ursins, &c. 



1417] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 279 

cussion and exchange of letters and messengers he 
set off with his father-in-law for Compiegne, as the 
Queen absolutely refused to come to St. Quentin as 
they wished. 1 

They established themselves in the royal palace of 
Compiegne, where they were joined by the Dauphine 
and Comtesse de Hainault, and where they lived in 
state and splendour as Jean always had done, for the 
Hainaults were very rich. Jacqueline was their 
only child, and they were exceedingly proud of the 
alliance with the son of the King, especially now 
he had become Dauphin. He was now eighteen, 
and seems to have had more constancy of purpose 
than his brother, but to have been entirely under 
the influence of the Comte de Hainault and Duke of 
Burgundy. What he was really like is impossible 
to say. De Mezeray calls him "un jeune homme 
capriceux, acriastre, deplaisant en mceurs et fa cons." 
Juvenal des Ursins and Paradin observe that it was 
a pity he did not live to be King, as he had been well 
brought up and taught by the Comte de Hainault 
who was a wise prince. The monk of St. Denis 
declares that he was a noble character, but he 
generally appears to have had that opinion of the 
fleurs-de-lis. It was very likely that he was better 
than his eldest brother, as he easily might have 
been. He was extravagant and magnificent like 
all his family, and those who surrounded him 
and had charge of his education were always 
praising his lavish generosity and inciting him to 

1 " Chronique de Flandre." " Messager des sciences historiques de 
la Belgique," 1887. 



280 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1417 

hold a more brilliant court than his parents the 
King and Queen. 1 

That the Dauphin and Dauphine lived in great 
splendour at Compiegne is proved by many of the bills 
and accounts still existing, the costly stuffs of their 
dresses, the magnificent plate and jewels, and the 
presents they made to each other and to the members 
of their households. Messengers went perpetually 
between Compiegne, Senlis, Paris, and other places 
to fetch things and to carry letters. There is a 
record of a sum paid to the Provost of Senlis for 
having escorted "pour la doubte et peril des chemins" a 
sum of money from Senlis to Compiegne. Sums of 
money are also given to the King's minstrels, to the 
choristers of the Dauphin's chapel, and to Hennequin 
who takes care of his pet dogs ; also for tapestry 
hangings for his room, nine pieces, with a stag hunt 
and boat hunt on green worked with silk, gold, and 
silver. 2 

Isabeau must have been estranged from the son 
who had been so separated from her ; for we find 
that when she came to Senlis with her youngest son 
Charles, who had been made Due de Touraine, 
Governor of Paris, and Due de Berry (the old Duke 
having just died), although the Dauphine was taken 
there to pay her homage, and spent some hours with 
her " en grande leeses," Isabeau returned to Paris with 
the Comte de Hainault without seeing the Dauphin. 
Possibly she may have been irritated against him, for 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," t. vi. liv. xxxvii. p. 61. 

2 " Messager des Sciences historiques de la Belgique," Leopold de 
Villers, 1887. 



1417] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 281 

he still refused to come to Paris, now in the hands of 
the Armagnacs, and demanded the regency during 
the King's malady. 

But amongst the schemes, disputes, and rivalry of 
the two parties, one of which put its trust in the 
Dauphin, and the other fixed its hopes on his brother, 
the Due de Touraine, then between fourteen and 
fifteen years old — a sudden change raised the spirits 
of the one and filled the other with dismay. The 
Dauphin began to be ill. Doctors were sent for ; we 
read of " chevancheurs" sent to ride "haste hastivement" 
to fetch fruit and medicines from Paris ; and prayers 
and masses said and sung in chapels and convents 
for his recovery. 

Early in April the Comte de Hainault, secretly 
warned that he would be arrested by the Armagnacs, 
escaped early in the morning from Paris on pretence 
of a pilgrimage to St. Maur-des-fosses, in the forest 
of Vincennes, from whence he rode in haste to 
Compiegne. But he found the Dauphin ill in bed 
" with a swollen body and other symptoms of poison," 
according to some historians, or, as others say, with 
an abscess in the ear. At any rate he died in a few 
days, 1 and there was an outcry of poison, perhaps 
with- more probability than usual, for he had not 
ruined his health like his brother, and though it could 
be nothing but an outrageous calumny that the 
Queen had done it by means of a gold chain she 
sent him, it was more likely that if there had been 
foul play at all it came from the Armagnacs who had 

1 " Chronique de Flandre," " Relig. de St. Denis," Monstrelet, 
Juvenal des Ursins, Paradin, De Mezeray, &c. 



282 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1417 

everything to gain by the death of the Burgundian 
Jean and the succession of the Armagnac Charles, 
the son-in-law of the King of Sicily and bitter enemy 
of Burgundy. 

Isabeau was certainly most unlucky in her relations 
with her sons. Three of them died in early childhood, 
with Louis she latterly had frequent quarrels, Jean 
was estranged from her ; but the unnatural strife and 
hatred between her and her remaining son Charles 
was the crown of all the calamities of her reign. It 
seems to have been caused in the first place by 
Armagnac, who, in consequence of the death soon 
after each other of the King's two elder sons, the 
Due de Berry, the King of Sicily, and the Comte de 
Hainault, had become exceedingly powerful and, the 
only person whose power and influence might stand 
in his way being the Queen, proceeded to make 
mischief between her, the Dauphin, a weak, character- 
less boy, and the King, whose mind was now more 
clouded and his intellect feebler during the intervals 
between the attacks of his terrible malady. 

Added to all this, the King of England threatened 
that he would soon be in Paris and there were 
hurried preparations to resist him. All the places 
that lay on the road by which he would pass were 
strengthened, moats deepened, walls repaired, 
batteries of wood and stone made, and stores of 
provisions laid in. St. Denis was especially fortified, 
and the monks had to contribute largely to the 
defence fund, for which purpose they were obliged to 
sell two large gold crowns and a quantity of silver 
plate. The holy relics, including the body of St. 



1417] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 283 

Denis, were taken by some of the monks to Paris and 
hidden in a safe but secular place, which, however, 
caused so much scandal that they had to be brought 
back again ; and the monk who writes of this time 
says that for eleven months the trumpets of the 
enemy were continually in their ears. 1 

The Queen was holding her court at Vincennes 
and had placed in command of the troops who acted 
as her guards, Louis de Bosredon, and the Sires de 
Graville and Giac, dissolute young nobles, who spent 
enormous sums of money and passed their time in 
feasting, revelry, and in carrying on intrigues with the 
Queen's ladies, and, it was rumoured, even with the 
Queen herself. At least it was said by Armagnac and 
his party, to whose interest it was to circulate such 
a report, and who succeeded in making the Dauphin 
and the King, who then had a lucid interval, believe 
the story. Being at the same time weak and violent, 
and so, as is always the case, more dangerous and 
mischievous than a person who, though violent, is 
also strong, they listened to the words of Armagnac, 
and the King riding in haste one evening to 
Vincennes, passed Bosredon, who instead of dis- 
mounting according to the usual etiquette, saluted 
slightly and rode on. This put a finishing stroke to 
the anger of Charles, who ordered him to be arrested. 
He was put to the "question" or torture, and was said 
to have made compromising confessions respecting 
the Queen. He was thrown into the Seine and 
drowned ; the other young nobles escaped. It is very 
likely, whatever admissions were wrung by these 

1 "Relig. de St. Denis." 



284 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1418 

iniquitous means from Bosredon, that he was not 
guilty; as to Isabeau she was about forty-seven years 
old, had grown fat, and was suffering from gout, 
which circumstances make such an accusation as far 
as she was concerned highly improbable, though the 
disorders of her court were doubtless deplorable. 
However, the conspiracy had succeeded, she was sent 
to Tours with the Duchess of Bavaria her sister-in- 
law, and not allowed as she wished, to go to Melun, 
where she had much treasure, a great deal of which 
was seized by the Dauphin, and the part he took in 
this outrage aroused in the Queen that undying hatred 
which caused such disaster to him and to France. 

It would have been better for the Dauphin Charles 
if he had let his mother and her friends and her 
treasure alone, for Isabeau, though capricious and 
foolish, was not a woman to submit tamely to such 
an outrage as this. And Jean Sans-peur was neither 
capricious, foolish, nor weak, and it was to him that 
her thoughts turned in this crisis. 

For about six months Isabeau led an intolerable 
life at Tours in close captivity, guarded by Jean 
Picard, who had been her own secretary, and had 
betrayed to the Dauphin the existence of a collection 
of gold, silver, pearls, and diamonds which she had 
entrusted to the keeping of the Abbot of St. Denis ; 
Guillaume Toreau, her chancellor, and Laurent du 
Puy, whom she hated more than any of them, as he 
prevented her from writing or receiving letters with- 
out his leave and treated her with disrespect, even 
speaking to her without taking his hat off. 

She managed however to send a secret message to 



1418] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVREIE 285 

the Duke of Burgundy with her seal. Jean Sans-peur 
was besieging Corbeil, but he knew that the Queen 
was worth more to him than the possession of that or 
any other town, so he raised the siege and rode day 
and night to Tours where he arrived on the Feast of 
All Souls. 

The Queen meanwhile had signified her intention 
of performing her devotions at the abbey of Marmou- 
tiers on the banks of the Loire, near Tours. The 
three gaolers did not venture to object to this act 
of religion. While prayers were going on they 
approached the Queen and said that a great company 
of Burgundians and English were close at hand. 
Just then Hector de Saveuse, lieutenant of the Duke 
of Burgundy, having posted armed men all round, 
entered the church and saluted the Queen in the 
name of his master who was close at hand. Isabeau 
pointed to her three gaolers saying, " Arrest these 
three men." This was immediately done, but Laurent 
du Puy, who knew it was all over with him, broke 
away, ran down to the Loire, tried to jump into 
a boat that lay moored to the shore, fell into the 
water and was drowned. In two hours the Queen 
and the Duke of Burgundy had met and become re- 
conciled ; the Queen assumed the regency, and under 
the powerful escort of the Duke of Burgundy, having 
been recognised by the authorities of Tours, made a 
progress through central France with her ladies, and 
fixed her court and parliament at Troyes. She had a 
seal engraved with the arms of France and Bavaria 
and issued proclamations beginning, " Isabelle, par la 
grace de Dieu Royne de France!' The civil war now 



286 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1418 

raged as fiercely as ever, and the English had 
conquered most of Normandy and were besieging 
Rouen. 

In May, 141 8, a party of young men, partisans of 
the Queen and Burgundy, led by Perrinet le Clerc, 
whose father kept the keys of the porte S. Germain- 
des-pres, went to Seigneur de L'Isle Adam, and 
offered to admit the Burgundian troops by night into 
Paris. It was arranged that the latter should be at 
the gate with eight hundred men, and Perrinet should 
contrive to steal the keys from his father who always 
kept them under his pillow, and who would have dis- 
trusted any one rather than his son. With a band of 
the conspirators Perrinet crept secretly in the dark- 
ness to the Porte St. Germain and awaited the coming 
of the soldiers. It was nearly two hours after mid- 
night when the gate was unlocked, L'Isle Adam 
and his troops in order of battle passed stealthily 
through, and Perrinet le Clerc locked the gate 
behind them and threw the keys over the wall into 
the moat, while the Burgundians began their silent 
march through the dark, narrow streets, no word 
being spoken until they stood before the Chatelet 
where a body of four hundred armed men waited for 
them, and then began the attack on the houses of the 
Armagnacs with a sudden rush amid cries for the 
King and Burgundy. Forcing their way to the 
palace they seized the King, induced him to grant 
all their demands and rode away with him. Armagnac 
escaped in disguise ; Tanneguy du Chastel, provost of 
Paris, aroused by the noise and tumult, hastened to 
the hotel of the Dauphin, wrapped him in a cloak, 



ETT 




i 4 i8] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 287 

and hurried him and the Dauphine into the Bastille 
where some of their party had taken refuge. Doors 
were flung open, people rushed out of their houses 
with arms in their hands, torches gleamed and cries 
resounded in the streets, plunder, fighting, and 
slaughter went on all night, and in the morning both 
King and capital were in the hands of the Burgundians. 
Armagnac was betrayed by the man who had sheltered 
him and carried off to prison ; Tanneguy du Chastel 
escaped with the Dauphin to Corbeil and thence to 
Melun; the town was given up to violence, pillage, 
and murder; the Armagnacs fled in confusion ; and the 
Duke of Burgundy went to Troyes and brought back 
the Queen in triumph. All the chiefs of the 
Burgundian party came to meet them with six 
hundred of the principal citizens, bringing velvet 
robes covered with crosses of St. Andrew for Burgundy 
and his nephew which they put on to enter Paris. 
The Queen was seated on a "c/iar" the streets so 
lately running with blood were strewn with flowers, 
and the King received the Queen with affection 
and satisfaction. 

But very soon the approach of the English army 
compelled them to take refuge at Troyes, while a 
dreadful pestilence was ravaging the country. The 
Abbot of St. Denis died, and many other people of 
importance. Many fled from the country, and for 
four months there was a dreadful mortality. 1 The 
Duke of Burgundy was now declared Captain of Paris 
instead of the Dauphin, who remained at Bourges. 
The King, Queen, and Princess Catherine were com- 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis," liv. xxxix. p. 283. 



288 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1418 

pletely under the influence of Burgundy, whose eldest 
son was, it will be remembered, married to another 
daughter of the King, and whose aim now was to get 
the Dauphin also under his guidance, which did not 
seem to be at all impossible, Charles being only 
fifteen, and having no more brains, capacity, nor 
decision of character than his brother Louis ; being 
absolutely guided by whoever he was with, and at 
present surrounded by persons of no particular rank 
or weight. The young Comte de Clermont, son of 
the Due de Bourbon, who was about the age of the 
Dauphin and had just returned from captivity in 
England, had come over to the Burgundians, saying 
that wherever the King was, there was his place, and 
it was hoped the Dauphin would do the same. 
Armagnac was dead, and his chief counsellor was 
Tanneguy du Chastel, a Breton gentleman. Burgundy 
had sent his young wife Marie d'Anjou back to him 
and was anxious for a reconciliation. 

The English conquests were spreading. Rouen 
was besieged and taken, and though negotiations 
were going on for the marriage of the Princess 
Catherine, Henry V. demanded as her dowry all the 
provinces conceded to his great-grandfather by the 
peace of Bretigny, to which the King and Duke of 
Burgundy would not agree. 

As the King and Queen started to take the 
Princess Catherine to meet Henry V. at Pontoise, 
however, the King was seized with an attack of 
frenzy, so he -had to be left there while the Duke of 
Burgundy went on to Melun with the Queen and 
Princess. 



1418] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 289 

Henry V. met them, and at once fell in love with 
the Princess who was just nineteen and extremely 
beautiful ; but he would not come to terms about the 
dowry, and Isabeau, thinking to inflame his passion 
for her, only let them meet once and then sent her 
back to Pontoise. However, this only infuriated 
Henry, who told Burgundy that he would have the 
Princess and the lands too, in spite of them, " et je 
vous chasseray de France, votes et vostre Roy." I 

The negotiations not having resulted in much 
good the King desired the Dauphin and Duke of 
Burgundy to make peace. The Due de Bretagne 
went to and fro between the Dauphin, his brother-in- 
law, and the Queen and Burgundy. " Everywhere 
there was a great longing for the success of the 
arrangements for there was great desolation in all 
parts of the kingdom for the war was of father 
against son, brother against brother, uncle against 
nephew. And the worst was when in one town were 
held the two factions of Burgundy and Armagnac, 
and thieves and robbers were everywhere and 
merchandise always and everywhere lost." 2 

It was difficult enough to persuade the Dauphin to 
agree to terms, but the Queen sent the Dame de 
Giac, an old lady the Dauphin had been very fond of 
from his childhood, and who was said to have been 
at one time the mistress of the Duke of Burgundy, 
to Pouilly where the conference was going on. She 
went from one tent to the other and managed so to 
arrange matters as to bring about a reconciliation. 

1 De Mezeray, p. 1023. Monstrelet, c. ccvii., p. 322. 

2 " Chronique anonyme. " Bibliotheque imperiale. 

20 



290 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1419 

The Dauphin, who, though he had no sense, had 
very pleasant manners, showed great courtesy to the 
Duke and when they separated frantic rejoicings 
took place at Paris, bells ringing, feasting in the 
streets, singing and dancing going on all night 
long. 1 

But, as at the marriage festivities of Richard II. 
and Isabelle, a great storm came on during the con- 
ference, " and," says the monk of St. Denis, " the 
heavens were black with clouds, there was thunder 
and lightning and torrents of rain and huge hailstones 
which destroyed the vines and crops. Some said 
this storm arose from natural causes, but it was most 
generally believed that the evil spirits could some- 
times produce these disorders and that perhaps the 
interviews of the princes were disagreeable to them. 
Therefore people did not believe in the stability or 
durability of the treaty concluded. It was also the 
opinion of several of the learned astrologers. For 
my part I leave their judgment to Him who reigns 
in the heavens." 2 

The truce with England expired and the war 
broke out again. The English troops took many 
towns and castles, the Duke of Burgundy retired 
with the King and Queen to Troyes, and no adequate 
measures were taken against the enemy. The Dau- 
phin returned from Touraine in September, and sent 
Tanneguy du Chastel to Troyes to ask for another 
conference with the Duke of Burgundy, who at first 
refused, saying that there was peace between them 
and the Dauphin had much better come to Troyes to 

1 " Relig. de St. Denis." 2 Ibid. 



1419] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 291 

his father and mother. However, he allowed himself 
to be persuaded and consented to meet the Dauphin 
at Montereau, in spite of the entreaties and warnings 
of his own friends and followers who dreaded the 
vengeance of the Armagnacs for all his deeds, 
from the murder of Louis d'Orleans to the late 
massacres of their friends and relations in Paris, 
besides their fear of his gaining over the Dauphin 
the influence he already possessed over the King and 
Queen. 

The interview was to take place on the bridge of 
Montereau, to which the Duke of Burgundy rode on 
the 10th of September, about three in the afternoon. 
As he dismounted to go on to the bridge, three of his 
servants who had been upon it examining the barrier 
across it, which they did not like the look of, came 
up to him and again begged him not to risk himself 
on it, but it was no use. At the barrier in the 
middle of the bridge he met the Dauphin, the one 
through which he himself passed having been locked 
behind him. After a few words of conversation, the 
Dauphin, as the Duke knelt before him, began to 
reproach him with having done nothing to oppose 
the English. At that moment one of the Armagnacs 
pushed him from behind, Burgundy laid his hand on 
his sword which had got behind him to pull it 
forward. Robert de Loir, who had pushed him, 
exclaimed, " Mettez-vous la main a vostre cpie en la 
presence de Monseigneur le Dauphin ? " Tanneguy 
du Chastel approached, made a sign, and saying "// 
est temps" struck the Duke with an axe. He tried to 
draw his sword but it was too late, there was a cry of 



292 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1420 

" Tuez ! tuez ! " a fierce scuffle ; then Jean Sans-peur 
lay dead at the feet of the Dauphin, and Louis 
d'Orleans was avenged. 

The rage, consternation, and mischief caused by 
this event throughout the country, just as every one 
thought there was going to be a little peace, cannot 
be described. The Queen and her son-in-law 
Philippe, Comte de Charolais, now Duke of Bur- 
gundy, prepared to take their revenge. Philippe, 
overwhelmed with grief, would scarcely see or speak 
to any one for days. To his wife he said, " Michelle, 
your brother has murdered my father " ; and then 
finding that she was fretting and making herself 
miserable fearing to lose his affection he comforted 
and reassured her. The Queen and Duke of Bur- 
gundy sent proclamations to all the chief towns in 
France denouncing the Dauphin for the murder of 
Jean Sans-peur ; and made a treaty with the King of 
England at Troyes, by which they agreed that he 
should marry the Princess Catherine and not only 
act as regent of France during the King's illnesses 
but succeed to the crown to the exclusion of the 
Dauphin. 

Isabeau, who was then at Troyes, sent the Bishop 
of Arras secretly to Henry to invite him to come 
there, and to take him a love-letter from the Princess 
Catherine, with which he was delighted. 1 The young 
princess was deeply in love with Henry V. and very 
anxious to be Queen of England, and had all along 
persuaded her mother, whose great favourite she was, 

1 Strickland, " Queens of England," vol. iii. p. 135. Katherine de 
Valois. 



1422] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 293 

to help her in the matter and forward the alliance. 
Isabeau was glad enough to do so for she loved her 
daughter and hated her son, and this marriage fell in 
with her views regarding them both. The wedding 
was celebrated at Troyes, June 3, 1420, with extraor- 
dinary magnificence. The Kings and Queens of 
France and England and the young Duke of 
Burgundy entered Paris, and spent Christmas there ; 
after which Henry and Catherine went on a visit to 
England. The young Queen seems to have felt 
bitterly the separation from her parents and country ; 
an ancient chronicle says of her: " Item, ce jour party 
la fille de France nominee Catherine que le roy 
d Fngleterre avoit espousee et fut menee en Engleterre, 
et fut une piteuse departie, especialement du roy de 
France et de sa filler J 

Just before Christmas, 1421, came the news of the 
birth of a son to the King and Queen of England. 
In Paris as in London bells rang and bonfires blazed 
in the streets ; for the child, afterwards the unfor- 
tunate Henry VI., was born the heir of both England 
and France. The winter was an unusually cold one, 
the frost being so severe that no corn could be 
ground except in windmills, all the watermills being 
frozen up. 

In May, 1422, Queen Catherine came back escorted 
in great pomp by a great body of English troops. 
She arrived at Vincennes, where she stayed some 
weeks with her parents and husband who received 
her, as an ancient chronicler observes, " as if she had 
been an angel." The court kept Whitsuntide at 

1 " Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris," p. 148. 



2 9 4 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1423 

Paris, Charles VI. and Isabeau at the hotel St. Paul, 
Henry V. and Catherine at the Louvre. The people 
thronged to see the great banquets at which the 
King and Queen of England feasted in splendid 
robes, crowns, and jewels ; while those of the King 
and Queen of France were neglected, and at neither 
were food and wine given away according to ancient 
custom, which caused much discontent. But these 
were the last great fetes of the French court in the 
reigns of Charles and Henry. In the following 
August the King of England, who had for some time 
been suffering from a dangerous and, in those days, 
incurable malady, died at Vincennes, and his death 
was followed in October by that of Charles VI. at 
the hotel St. Paul. Henry died at thirty-six, in the 
midst of a brilliant and victorious career King of 
England and almost King of France, leaving a 
widow of twenty-one overwhelmed with grief, an in- 
fant heir to two kingdoms, and a nation in mourning. 
Charles, whose reign began so magnificently, passed 
away in the half-deserted palace of St. Paul. 
Although Isabeau was living there at the time, only 
his confessor, almoner, and the first gentleman of his 
household were with him when he died, at the age of 
fifty-three. 

The Queen does not seem to have been present at 
the funeral, the Dauphin was an exile and an enemy, 
and the chief mourner was the Duke of Bedford, 
Regent of France for Henry of Lancaster. The 
funeral waited till his arrival at Paris and there was 
much dispute as to what the arrangements should 
be, it having been so long since a King of France 



1423] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 295 

had been buried that very few people remembered, 
and there were no records on the subject. 

The litter was so constructed, that it could be 
made narrower to pass through the doors of St. Paul, 
Notre Dame, and the narrow streets, and widened in 
the broader thoroughfares. On it was placed the 
coffin covered with a pall of cloth of gold and scarlet 
with deep border of blue velvet embroidered with 
golden fleurs-de-lis, which fell down to the ground. 
It was surmounted by an image of the King dressed 
in royal robes, with mantle of ermine, crown, and 
sceptre. The litter was carried by the " varlets" of 
the King and followed by two hundred gentlemen of 
his household in black, bearing torches and shields 
with the arms of France. Next came the mendicant 
orders, Jacobins, Carmelites, Cordeliers, and Augus- 
tins, then the colleges, parochial clergy, ecclesiastics 
of the collegiate churches and university, bishops, 
abbots and nobles, members of Parliament, the four 
presidents in mantles of scarlet and vair holding the 
four corners of the pall, the King's chamberlain, 
esquires, and many of the chief citizens ; the Duke of 
Bedford, Regent of France, rode behind the litter. 
The streets and windows were crowded with people 
mourning and lamenting, and so, at the hour of 
vespers the body of Charles le Bien-aime was carried 
to Notre Dame. The church was hung with costly 
stuffs covered with fleurs-de-lis, and blazing with 
torches, the psalms and vigils for the dead were 
chanted "et fut nuictr Next morning, after mass, 
the procession formed again and the body was carried 
in state to St. Denis, where all night the monks 



296 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1423 

chanted psalms and vigils for the dead ; and then 
next day, after a magnificent requiem, Charles VI. 
was buried by his father and mother, and through 
the dim aisles and cloister of the great abbey 
resounded the cry, " Pray for the soul of the most 
excellent prince, Charles VI., King of France." 

After the religious rites were over the Duke of 
Bedford dined in his own room, but there was a great 
dinner in the vast hall of the abbey to which 
crowded prelates, nobles, gentlemen, and officials, 
maitres d' hotel restraining those who were pressing to 
the chief table and had no right there, and alms 
being distributed while the banquet was going on to 
more than five thousand poor people. 

Isabeau survived her husband twelve years, but 
this latter part of her life contains scarcely anything 
of sufficient interest to record. After the death of 
her son-in-law Henry V., with whom she always got 
on well, the departure of her daughter Catherine for 
England, and the death of Charles VI., she lived in 
the half-deserted palace of St. Paul with a diminished 
household and shattered fortune. Her daughter the 
Duchess of Burgundy died in 1423, and of her twelve 
children there only remained the son she hated, the 
Queen of England, now far away, and her second 
and third daughters, Jeanne, Duchesse de Bretagne, 
and Marie, Prioress of Poissy, whom it is to be 
supposed she sometimes saw. 

Her brother, Ludwig of Bavaria, also survived her. 
But war and famine and pestilence had devastated 
the kingdom. Grass grew in the streets of Paris, 
and wolves came and attacked children outside the 



1435] CHARLES VI. AND ISABEAU DE BAVIERE 297 

walls and even within the city. 1 One event of inte- 
rest happened in 1431, which was the state entry of 
her grandson Henry VI. into Paris. While Isabeau 
stood at the window of the hotel St. Paul watching 
the pageant, the child looked up at her as he rode 
by, and, some one saying to him, "That is the Queen- 
dowager of France, your grandmother," he took off 
his cap and saluted her. At the sight of the young 
King, the son of her favourite daughter, riding as 
she herself had done amid the acclamations of the 
people through the streets which had once been 
decorated and thronged to do her honour, Isabeau 
burst into tears and turned from the window. The 
King, then ten years old, afterwards went to visit his 
grandmother at the hotel St. Paul. 2 

Isabeau died there in 1435, September 29th. She 
had a favourite old German lady who lived with her 
to the last and with her other ladies followed her 
funeral cortege to Notre Dame on the 13th of 
October. Very little pomp was displayed on that 
occasion, but the clergy of that cathedral came in 
procession to St. Paul, and spared nothing to make 
the office worthy of a sovereign, lending a crown, 
sceptre, and other royal ornaments. There were 
present the Chancellor of France, the Bishop of 
Paris, and certain French and English nobles. After 
the ceremony the body was placed in a boat by the 
presidents of Parliament and taken to St. Denis to 
be buried by her husband Charles VI.3 

1 "Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris." 

2 Monstrelet. 

3 T. Chastier, t. i. p. 211. 



298 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1435 

Paris was still in possession of the English, but 
just before the Queen's death the treaty of Arras 
was signed between the Duke of Burgundy and 
Charles VII. 




Juofande* d'ar^ 

Ue j?/. pucee tni - 
jkt en bande. 



MARIE D'ANJOU, WIFE OF CHARLES VII. 
CHARLOTTE DE SAVOIE, WIFE OF LOUIS XI. 




1413 



OUND Marie d'Anjou and 

Charlotte de Savoie, wives of 

Charles VII. and Louis XL, 

partly from their own 

personality and partly 

from 

the circumstances amidst which 

they were placed, so much less 

interest gathers than around the 

two Queens who precede or the 

one who follows them, that I 

have preferred to pass over their 

reigns, and to conclude this 

volume with a sketch of the more 

interesting character and eventful 

life of Anne de Bretagne, whose 

death closes the annals of the 

early Queens of the house of 

Valois. 

Marie was the granddaughter 

of Louis, Due d'Anjou, the second, handsomest, and 

299 




300 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1463 



perhaps worst of the sons of King Jean. Although 
she was exceedingly beautiful, and in many ways 
gifted, she had no influence with Charles VII., 
whom she had married as a child, when, his elder 
brothers being alive, there appeared no prospect 
of his becoming King. After his accession he con- 
stantly neglected her for Agnes Sorel and other 
mistresses. She seems not to have been wanting 
in judgment or capacity, and under different cir- 
cumstances might have made an excellent queen ; 
but her idea of duty was the submission of a slave, 
and her gentle, saintly character was more fitted for 
the cloister than the throne. She was the only human 
being her son, Louis XL, really loved, 1 and would 
never oppose, and her death soon after his accession 
to the throne was considered a public calamity. She 
had twelve children, of whom seven died young. 



Tierce en chef,au. 1 ^fo.ce 
d'argentg de buzuUs de huit 
pieces, pour Honi>rie . Au 2. 

feme de France au tomb el de 
trois pendant de dueules . fiovr 
AnjoabicHe.hu 3. darken I a 
la croix potence'e d'or, eanfon- 
ne'e de quatre eroijettes de me 
foe/ pour Jermfalem . Soutenu 
CluI. de la point e et feme de 
Jranee a la bordure aebueules 
pour Anjou. parh d'or a quatre 
f»a(s de dueules , pour Arradon 




1 Except his eldest daughter in after years, for whom he had a strong 
affection. 



i45i] 



CHARLOTTE DE SAVOIE 



301 



Charlotte de Savoie was much less gifted and 
more unfortunate than her predecessor. Charles 
VII., with all his faults, was neither cruel, avaricious, 
nor disagreeable, and his wife was free to amuse 
herself and direct her children and household as 
she pleased. But Louis XI. was a cruel, remorseless 




(Vfoiitt- "4^-JEhc 



tyrant, and the only consolation of the unfortunate 
Charlotte de Savoie was that she seldom saw him. 
She lived in seclusion and with little state at Loches 
and Amboise, and when his death gave her freedom 
she was already in bad health, and only survived him 
for a few months. Of her six children only three 



302 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT 

lived to grow up: Charles VIII., Anne de Beaujeu, 
Regent of France, and Jeanne, the deformed wife of 
Louis XII. 



JX? §ueu fes q la 
crotx d' ar&ent, 



REIGN OF ANNE DE BRETAGNE, WIFE OF 
CHARLES VIII. AND LOUIS XII. 

CHAPTER I 

i 476- i 49 i 



Birth of Anne and Isabelle- 




Their childhood — Louis d'Orleans — 
Alain d'Albret — Death 
of Francois II. — First 
Council — French war — 
Marriage ceremony — 
Siege of Rennes. 



NNE, eldest 
daughter of 
Francois II., 
Due de Bre- 
tagne, and 
his second 
wife, Mar- 
guerite de Foix, was born 
at Nantes, January 26, 
1476, 1 and her sister, Isa- 
belle, four or five years 
after. 

1 Sainte-Marthe. Hilarion de la 
Coste. Morery, Grand Dictionnaire. 
Lobineau, " Hist. Bretagne," t. i. 
p. 727. 



304 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1476 

Their mother died in 1485, leaving the children 
under the care of Francoise de Dinan, Dame de 
Laval, a member of one of the greatest families of 
Bretagne, who had been their governess from their 
infancy. They continued to be brought up at the 
court of their father, who seems to have kept them 
constantly with him, but whose affection for them did 
not prevent his promising them to anybody whose 
alliance he thought might be useful to him amidst 
the difficulties and dangers he had brought upon the 
duchy which had been so prosperous when he 
succeeded to it. 

Always under the influence of some unworthy 
favourite, he had for many years been governed by 
Antoinette de Maignelais, Dame de Villequier, niece 
of Agnes Sorel, and her successor in the affections of 
Charles VII. After his death she carried on a 
liaison with Francois, which embittered the life of 
his first wife, daughter of the last Due de Bretagne, 
so that the people declared that his having no son to 
succeed him was a punishment from heaven for his 
conduct. 

Anne, as the heiress of Bretagne, was of especial 
importance, and proposals for her marriage and her 
sister's with the King of the Romans, the young sons 
of Edward IV. of England, the Infant of Spain, or 
some of the chief Breton nobles, were perpetually 
being entertained. 

Some French writers have originated a romantic 
story of love between Anne and L^uis, Due d'Orleans, 
who had quarrelled with Charles VIII. and his sister, 
the Regent, 1 and was a great deal at the court of 

1 About a game oipaume. Commines, Bellefont, &c. 



1476] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 305 

Bretagne. But as Anne was from eight to eleven 
years old at that time, by comparing dates and details 
given by early chroniclers, it becomes evident that this 
was not possible, and that if Louis, who was then 
from two to five and twenty, thought of such a child 
at all, it could only be as the heiress of Bretagne. He 
was, like his grandfather, the brother of Charles VI., 
always involved in some love affair, besides being 
already married to Jeanne, the deformed daughter 
of Louis XI., who had forced the marriage upon him 
in childhood, notwithstanding his opposition and that 
of his parents, 1 Charles Due d'Orleans and Marie de 
Cleves, hoping thereby to extinguish that branch of 
the family. And, notwithstanding his aversion to 
his wife, he could not get rid of her whilst her brother 
was King and her sister Regent of France. 

Jeanne, Duchesse d'Orleans, was greatly to be 
pitied. She loved Louis as Valentine Visconti had 
loved his still handsomer and more dissipated grand- 
father. But Valentine was a brilliant, attractive 
woman of the world, with whom the Duke, in spite 
of his frequent infidelities, had got on very well. 
Jeanne, besides being deformed, was a meek, ascetic 
person, whose life had been passed in slavish sub- 
mission to her father, the terrible Louis XL, and 
despairing love for her husband ; her tastes and ideas 
were those of the cloister. 

Although his follies were the cause of many 
calamities to the duchy, Francois II. was very 
popular, he was good-looking and pleasant, 
encouraged art, literature, and commerce, and spent 
his money freely. 

1 De Maulde La Claviere. Louis XII. t. i. p. 115. 
21 



306 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1476 



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1476] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 307 

The greatest danger in which he involved the 
State arose from his constant enmity to France, 
whose fugitives he protected, and whose enemies he 
encouraged and assisted on all occasions ; and from 
the credulous weakness which placed him always 
under the influence of some objectionable person. 
Antoinette de Maignelais died in 1475, but still 
more fatal was his infatuation for one Landais, a 
man of obscure birth and abominable character, 
whom he made his treasurer, and whose crimes and 
cruelties so exasperated the Bretons that they rose in 
rebellion, surrounded the palace with threats and 
cries, and demanded that he should be given up to 
them. The Comte de Foix tried to appease them, 
but returned in haste, exclaiming, " I would rather be 
Prince over a million wild boars than over such people 
as your Bretons ; you will certainly have to give up 
your treasurer, or we shall all be murdered." 1 
Landais was accordingly tried, condemned, and 
executed, but the harm he had done and the 
disastrous state of affairs still remained. 

The young English princes having been murdered 
by their uncle, Richard III., the Vicomte de Rohan 
wanted to marry the two princesses to his two sons ; 
other suitors also presented themselves, of whom the 
one specially detested by Anne was Alain, Comte 
d'Albret, brother of her governess, the Dame de 
Laval. He was a widower of forty-five, rough, ugly, 
disagreeable, ill-tempered, and the father of eight \J 
legitimate and four illegitimate children. A more 
preposterous husband for the young princess could 

1 Lobineau, " Hist. Bretagne," t. i. p. 745. 



308 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1488 

not have been thought of; notwithstanding which, the 
Dame de Laval used all her influence in his favour. 
But her persuasions were useless. Anne could not 
bear the sight of him, and would not listen. Besides 
her personal dislike to him, she said his position was 
far beneath her. She wanted to marry a King, or the 
son of a King, not a mere Breton noble who was her 
father's subject and would be her own. 

There was, however, a strong party who, desiring 
that their future duchess should marry a Breton and 
stay in her own country, supported the pretensions of 
Albret, and so harassed the Duke, her father, that in 
order to gain allies and help in his difficulties, he 
consented to this monstrous sacrifice, and desired her 
to accept him. Anne resisted, but she was then a 
child of eleven or twelve years of age, and when her 
father, whom she loved, used reproaches, commands, 
entreaties, and assured her that the marriage was 
necessary to the welfare of the country she adored, 
he succeeded in wringing a reluctant consent from 
her. 

But shortly afterwards he was beaten by the 
French at St. Aubin, and after signing a treaty giving 
up Dol, St. Malo, and other important towns, and 
promising not to marry either of his daughters with- 
out permission of Charles VI 1 1., he fell ill and died 
in September, 1488. 

The Princess Anne, now Duchess de Bretagne, 

J was not quite thirteen years old, but in capacity and 

character far beyond her age. She was well educated, 

understood Latin and Greek, and wrote very good 

letters. One to Maximilian of Austria, with an 



1488] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 309 

account of the war, the troubles in Bretagne, and the 
battle of St. Aubin is quoted as a surprising pro- 
duction for one so young. But Anne was full of 
talent and high spirit, her faults and good qualities 
were those of a noble nature. Brave, proud, im- 
petuous, imperious, passionately attached to her 
own country, loving her friends and hating her 
enemies with all her heart, always to be relied on, 
yielding only to the commands of the Church, or the 
good of her own Bretagne, a woman to be loved, 
admired, sometimes feared, but never despised or 
distrusted. 

The Duke left his daughters under the guardianship 
of the Marechal de Rieux and the Comte de Com- 
minges, who were also to consult Dunois, son of the 
famous Bastard of Orleans, and Madame de Laval 
was to remain their governess. 1 She must have been 
fond of them and good to them in spite of her repre- 
hensible partisanship of her unsuitable brother, for 
Anne always showed her much affection. 

The princesses were taken immediately from 
Coiron, where the Duke died, to Guerande, which 
was considered safer. The Breton nobles had sworn 
allegiance to Anne in her father's lifetime, among 
others her natural brother, Francois Baron d'Avau- 
gour, son of Antoinette de Maignelais. He and 
Anne were very fond of each other. 

An embassy was sent to the King of France and 
the States hastily summoned. Anne sat at the head 
of the Council, and her ministers soon discovered that 
she was no weak, timid girl of whom they could 

1 Lobineau, " Hist. Bretagne," t.i. p. 790. 



3io PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [i, 



v/ 



dispose at their pleasure, but a high-spirited princess 
who knew very well that she was their sovereign. 

When Rieux brought forward again the project of 
marrying her to the detested Albret as the best way 
out of the present difficulties, she immediately, with 
an eloquence and decision that astonished them, 
rejected the proposal. An historian remarks, " And 
the high heart that she had ! girl as she was ! x 
She said that Albret had not even fulfilled the 
conditions which alone had in- 
duced her to consent to such an 
engagement, in giving assist- 
ance to her father, who had 
never desired nor approved of 
the marriage, but had been 
tormented into consenting when 
in weak health by Madame de 
Laval, that she had always pro- 
tested against it, and that Albret 
knew he was repugnant to her, 
and that she never meant to 
carry it out. That she was the Duchesse de Bretagne 
and the greatest heiress in Christendom, that the 
idea of trying to force her to marry against her will 
was contrary to all propriety, and that sooner than 
make such a marriage as this she would retire into a 
convent and take the veil. 

She hated Albret all the more, because as she grew 
older and increased in beauty, he had conceived a 
violent passion for her, but her courage and firmness 
put a stop to the tyrannical meddling of her 

1 D'Argentre. 




Ann? <te iy<ta£nt 



1488] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 311 

ministers and filled them with respect and admira- 
tion. 

She then sent a messenger to England claiming 
the protection of Henry VII. 

Her chancellor, Montauban, supported her, con- 
sidering the match far beneath her, and told Albret 
plainly of the aversion and indignation of the Duchess 
and the preposterous nature of his claims. The 
Comte d'Albret flew into a furious rage, but was of 
course powerless in the matter. And just then 
Charles VIII. sent to claim the wardship of the 
Duchess and her sister, saying that he would marry 
them to the two sons of the Vicomte de Rohan and 
resign all his claims to the duchy. 

But the Bretons, who hated the Rohans because 
they were considered friends to France and traitors 
to Bretagne, would not hear of this ; Louis d'Orleans 
was in prison at Bourges, help did not come from 
England, and the friends of the Duchess, including 
the Marechal de Rieux, who saw that it was hopeless 
to think of the Comte d'Albret, proposed the eldest 
son of the Emperor Maximilian, King of the Romans, 
who had been already suggested as a possible husband 
for her during the lifetime of her father, and to whom 
she had no objection. For, although Maximilian was 
also a widower and a great deal older than herself, 
he was a handsome, courteous, pleasant man in the 
prime of life, and could give her the most splendid 
position in Europe. 

The duchy was by this time in a condition equally 
deplorable and dangerous. Charles VIII., ex- 
asperated at the English and other foreign troops 



312 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [i 4 8 9 

being called in, made vigorous war upon Bretagne, 
town after town was besieged and taken by his army. 
Alain d'Albret continued to put forth his claims on 
the young Duchess, declaring that he had her father's 
promise and her own consent, but ignoring the fact 
that this consent had been wrung from a weak and 
almost dying man, and a child of ten years old, who 
directly she was free had made a public protest 
against this arbitrary act. Madame de Laval for a 
long time continued her advocacy of her brother's 
cause, while Anne steadily persisted that she would 
take the veil sooner than marry him. 

Meanwhile she waited anxiously for help from 
England, but Henry VII., unwilling to make war on 
France, lost a great deal of time in correspondence 
with the French King, hoping to arrange matters by 
this means. But the war went on, and the young 
Duchess fled from one town to another, and at 
length, finding herself in an unsafe position in the 
unfortified town of Rhedon, with her sister, where 
there was a great chance of being taken by the 
French, sent to her guardians, Rieux and Comminges, 
to come up with the troops and escort them to 
Nantes. There was no time to lose, for the French 
were in the neighbourhood, and the place could not 
be defended. 

The princesses were waiting in great anxiety when 
they were told that Rieux and Comminges had both 
gone to Nantes, where they had joined Albret. 
Anne was very angry, all the more as she suspected 
that they would try to influence the people against 
her and her friends by making them believe that 



1489] ANNE BE BRETAGNE 313 

Dunois intended to deliver up both her and the town 
to the King of France. She set off from Rhedon on 
horseback with Isabelle and the Chancellor Mon- 
tauban, with a bodyguard of ten Bretons as an escort, 
and rode to La Pasquelay, about three leagues from 
Nantes, where she was joined by Dunois at the head 
of some troops. She sent a message to Nantes 
ordering the gates to be opened for her entry, but the 
reply was that she was welcome to enter with her 
household and private guards, but not with Mon- 
tauban, Dunois, or the troops ; and seeing that the 
plan was to throw her into the power of Rieux and 
Albret, she angrily refused, upon which they marched 
out of the town with a large force to compel her to 
enter as they proposed. With undaunted courage 
Anne mounted on horseback behind Montauban and 
rode forward, while Dunois and the troops prepared 
for battle. But the townspeople no sooner saw her 
than they forbade any force to be used against her, 
but obliged the nobles to go back into the town. For 
some days negotiations went on, but Anne sent word 
that she would only enter Nantes as its sovereign, 
and turning away after a perilous journey took 
refuge at Rennes, where the people had begged her 
to come, and where they received her with bursts of 
enthusiastic loyalty and abuse of the traitors ol 
Nantes. 1 

Her cousin, Jean de Chalons, who was taken 
prisoner with the Due d'Orleans, but had been 
released, 2 was Anne's great friend and supporter 

1 Lobineau, "Hist. Bret.," t. i. p. 796. 

2 Ibid., t. i. pp. 798, 807, 808. 



314 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1490 

against Albret ; and in March, 1490, it was decided 
to place her under the protection of the Emperor, by 
marrying her to his son, the King of the Romans. 
Negotiations were accordingly carried on with pro- 
found secrecy. Madame de Laval, seeing that her 
efforts were vain, abandoned the cause of her brother ; 
Maximilian, King of the Romans, sent the Baron 
Volfan de Polhaim, with several other nobles, to 
Bretagne, and a few days after the ceremony of 
betrothal was gone through, and the marriage 
celebrated without any one knowing the day on 
which it took place. According to the old German 
custom in such cases, the young princess was 
placed in her bed into which Polhaim, as proxy 
for Maximilian, put his bare leg up to the knee 
in presence of the three other envoys, Madame de 
Laval and some members of the household of the 
Duchess, and declared the marriage to be con- 
summated. 

It was not likely that so important an event could 
be long concealed. The Chancellor de Montauban 
was one of the first to let it out by giving Anne, in 
several official acts, the title of Queen of the Romans. 
This disclosure caused an outburst of anger and 
commotion. The French pushed on the war with 
more activity than ever, Alain d'Albret betrayed 
Nantes into their hands, and Charles VIII. refused 
to acknowledge the legality of the marriage, con- 
tracted without his consent. 

Anne, who was in desperate straits for want of 

money, sold her plate and jewels, and struck a 

V coinage of leather with a small piece of silver in the 



1490] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 315 

centre. She gave the command of her army to Rieux, 
who had left Albret, returned to his allegiance, and for 
the sake of the country, been pardoned. He drove the 
French out of Lower Bretagne ; Brest, St. Malo, and 
some other towns held out for her ; she had English 
archers and German and Spanish troops from 
Maximilian, but was too weak to withstand the 
French, who, late in the autumn, laid siege to 
Rennes. 

Anne made her Chancellor, Montauban, promise 
not to leave her for a day ; she trusted also in Jean 
de Chalons and Dunois, who was as brave as his 
renowned father though his enormous size interfered 
with his activity. 




TRUMPETER. 

CHAPTER II 

1491-1498 

Joustes before Rennes — Death of Isabelle — Betrothal of Anne — 
Marguerite of Austria — Marriage of Anne — Charles VIII. — Birth 
of Dauphin- -Italian War — Return of King — Death of Dauphin — 
Birth and death of other children — Death of Charles VIII. 

THE French army lay encamped before Rennes. 
Hostilities began by the Bastard de Foix 
dressed as St. George, riding up to the walls and 
challenging any knight to come out and break a 
lance with him in honour of the ladies. A Breton 
noble in complete armour at once appeared, lists 
were made among the moats, Anne had a scaffold- 
ing erected from which she with her ladies and court 
witnessed the combat, first with lances, then with 
swords, and, after she had supplied hypocras and 
other refreshments to the French, every one retired. 

316 



1491] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 317 

Next day the siege began. Provisions and money 
ran short and the Princess Isabelle died. • Charles >/ 
offered Anne a large pension, any place she chose 
to live in except Rennes or Nantes ; and Louis de 
Luxembourg, the Comte d'Angouleme or the Due de 
Nemours for a husband in exchange for the duchy, 
which she refused. He next offered her foreign 
troops all the arrears due to them if they would 
withdraw from Rennes, which they immediately did. 
Then he tried to induce her to accept a large allow- 
ance, give up the duchy and go to the King of the 
Romans ; and finally proposed that she should throw 
over Maximilian, who could get no money from his 
father, the Emperor, had never even seen her, and 
probably cared very little for the marriage (having . 
lately lost Marie de Bourgogne whom he loved ^ 
passionately), and marry him. 

It was far the best way out of this disastrous state 
of things. Charles was politically her enemy, but 
she had no personal dislike to him, he was a suitable 
age and a splendid match, besides which it was 
evident that she must either accept him or lose 
Bretagne altogether. And whether it would be 
better for her or Bretagne that she should be a 
landless fugitive or Queen of France was a question 
about which there was no doubt whatever in the 
minds of any of the sensible people who surrounded 
her. Her cousin, the Prince of Orange, her guardian, 
the Marechal de Rieux, her Chancellor, Montauban, 
and her governess, Madame de Laval, all told her 
the same thing, and tried to persuade her to consent 
to this marriage. The Due d'Orleans, who had been 



i8 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1491 



released by the intercession of his wife ; and the 
Comte de Dunois, added their entreaties, and Anne 
at last began to hesitate. Then Madame de Laval 
told her confessor and begged him to speak to her. 
He accordingly assured her that it was required of 
her by God and the Church to make this sacrifice 
for the good of her country and the restoration of 
peace. Anne yielded to the only authority she 
recognised and consented to an interview with the 
King. 

Charles therefore went, on pretence of a pilgrimage 
to the chapel of Notre Dame which was at the gate 
of Rennes. After his devotions were finished, he 
suddenly entered the town accompanied by the 
Princess Anne de Beaujeu, and an armed escort. 
The next day he presented himself at the palace 
of the Duchess. They had a long private audience 
in which Charles seems to have succeeded in over- 
coming any dislike Anne may have had for him, as 
they were betrothed to each other three days after- 
wards in the chapel of Notre Dame. 

Two solemn contracts had to be broken for the 
sake of this marriage, so important both to Bretagne 
and France. Besides the ceremonial marriage of 
Anne and Maximilian, his daughter Marguerite had 
not only been for the last eight years the legal wife of 
Charles VIII., but had been brought up in France 
and treated as Dauphine and then as Queen. The 
marriage, which was of course only a form, had been 
celebrated at Amboise just before the death of 
Louis XL, with pomp and ceremony in the 
presence of the court, the Dauphin being then 



i 4 9 1 ] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 319 

twelve and the Princess Marguerite three years 
old.* 

It was a great affront to Maximilian, both on his 
own account and that of his daughter, who, though 
so young, was extremely indignant, having long con- 
sidered herself Queen of France. She was conducted 
back to her father with great state, and when, as 
she passed through Arras, the people began the 
French cry of " Noel, Noel ! " she said impatiently, 
" Do not cry ' Noel ! ' but ' Vive Bourgogne ! ' " She 
was afterwards the famous Regent of the Netherlands, 
and throughout her life never forgot the slight or felt 
anything but enmity to France, in which, however, 
she did not include the Queen, who had sent her >• 
splendid jewels and beautiful embroideries, and with 
whom she was always on friendly terms. 2 

A chronicler favouring the Austrian party, observes 
in his writings that with respect to this alliance three 
things are most surprising: first, that Charles VIII. 
should have had the audacity to carry it out, being 
already married to the daughter of Maximilian ; 
secondly, that the Duchesse de Bretagne should have 
accepted the deadly enemy of her house as her 
husband ; and thirdly, that the Seigneur de Dunois, 
who had done so much to bring about this marriage, 
should have fallen dead from his horse as he returned 
from the betrothal, ce qui epouvanta fort tout le 
peuple. 3 

1 Philippe de Commines. "Mem." t. ii. p. 241, note 1, edition 
Dupont. L'Art de Verifier les dates. 

2 Le Roux de Lincy. 

3 Jean Molinet, " Chroniques," t. iv. p. 577. 



320 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1491 

For Dunois, one of the most faithful friends of the 
young Duchess, never saw her crowned Queen, having 
been seized with apoplexy as just described. 

Although by this alliance Anne gained a much 
higher rank, she lost that of a sovereign princess. 
Charles was the conqueror, and she had no choice 
but to submit to the French terms, which were — 
that the duchy of Bretagne should pass entirely into 
the hands of the King ; that if she should survive 
him but have no living children, it should again 
become hers, but that in that case, in order to avoid 
another war she should bind herself not to marry any 
one but the King of France or his heir ; that she 
should receive the same dowry as the King's mother ; 
and, by his special desire, that any jewels, furniture, 
or property of whatever value, which might be in her 
possession at the King's death, should be hers abso- 
lutely. The Prince of Orange approved of this 
contract, which she signed on her wedding day, 
December 6, 1491. 

In spite of her poverty, Anne displayed royal 
magnificence in her dress and all the accessories of 
her wedding. It is probable that the States granted 
her a large sum of money for that occasion. At any 
rate her wedding-dress of cloth-of-gold with gold 
embroideries, cost 126,000 francs (present value), and 
all her travelling appointments were splendid. She 
gave velvet dresses to the ladies and gentlemen of 
her household, that of Madame de Laval being of 
violet velvet, and a costume of cloth-of-gold to the 
Prince of Orange. 1 

1 " Revue des provinces de l'Ouest," Juillet, 1854, p. 235. 



1491] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 321 



Anne was now fifteen years old and the King V 
twenty. After their wedding, they went to Tours, 
and then to Paris, splendidly received all the way. 
Anne was crowned at St. Denis in the following 
February, on which occasion she was dressed in >/ 
white satin. The crown was too large and heavy 
for the young head, and was held by Louis, Due 
d'Orleans. The next day she entered Paris. 

De Mezeray declares that Anne had an immense 
influence over the King, and that she ruled her own 
duchy entirely. But M. Le Roux de Lincy denies 
this statement, and quotes in support of such contra- 
diction two well-known historians of Bretagne, 1 who 
assert that during the whole of the married life of 
Charles VIII. and Anne, all the actes de Bretagne are 
in the name of Charles alone, without that of Anne 
ever being mentioned. 

In spite of the King's jealous monopoly of her 
duchy, he was always much attached to the Queen, 
although this did not prevent his carrying on many 
love affairs and intrigues with other women, greatly 4 
to her displeasure ; and every now and then arose 
quarrels and disputes about this or that person to 
whom his attentions were too much directed. But 
they were always together, except when he was at 
war ; he lavished money and every luxury upon her, 
and was as much influenced by her as he could be 
by anybody. For Charles was obstinate, rash, and 
chimerical ; and in many matters would take no 
advice from any one. He was not handsome like 
most of his family, being short and badly made ; but 

1 Dom Morice ; Lobineau, "Hist. Bretagne," t. ii. col. 1550. 



22 



322 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1492 

he had beautiful eyes, a charming expression and 

manners so gentle and courteous that it was said that 

>/ no one had ever heard him say a rude or harsh thing. 

Madame de Beaujeu, sister of the King, who had 
been hitherto the greatest lady in France, began by 
trying in vain to oppose and interfere with the Queen, 
who, having from childhood been accustomed to the 
deference and obedience due to a sovereign princess, 
declined to allow her authority to be questioned, so 
that the late Regent had to yield. 

Charles and Anne lived chiefly at Plessis and 
Amboise, which he had caused to be magnificently 
refurnished and decorated for her reception. 1 

Whenever it was possible Anne travelled by water, 
the rivers being still the chief highways, and the 
great barges with wooden houses on board the most 
comfortable conveyances. On October 10th was 
born the Dauphin, Charles-Orland, at Plessis, to the 
great rejoicing of France, Bretagne, and the King ; 
he was christened with splendid ceremonial, his god- 
parents being the Queen-dowager of Sicily and the 
Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon. He was dedicated to 
the Virgin, and always dressed in white and cloth of 
silver. A few months afterwards the King and Queen 
set off for Lyon, leaving him at Amboise, surrounded 
by the strictest precautions, amongst which was one 
forbidding any one to visit him who had ever been in 
4 Italy. 

They stayed at Lyon and Grenoble amidst much 
festivity until the baggage arrived, was unloaded 
from the chariots and packed on mules to cross the 
Alps. On September 1st, after attending mass, 



1492] 



ANNE DE BRETAGNE 



323 



Charles bade the Queen farewell, mounted his horse </ 
placed himself at the head of his army and started, 
accompanied by Louis d'Orleans. 




TOUR D AM BOISE. 



Anne remained at Lyon, and at first the King's 
daily letters brought news of unbroken conquests, 
which, however, like all the French victories in Italy, 
melted away, leaving nothing but disaster to France 



324 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1495 

It was fifteen months before Charles returned to 
Lyon where Anne had waited for him. In spite of 
his reverses he was in good spirits and resolved on 
another Italian campaign, for like all the Valois he 
was an ardent soldier. His favourite charger "Savoie," 
a splendid black horse with only one eye, had carried 
him through all the battles and loved him so much 
that he would fight for him with his teeth and hoofs. 
He was given him by the Due de Savoie. 1 Amongst 
other adventures is told the story of a young girl to 
whom he took a fancy at Naples. She was brought 
to his palace there and when left alone with him she 
explained that she had not come of her own free will, 
but had been carried off by force, and threw herself 
on his mercy. Charles assured her that she need fear 
no violence from him, sent her away in safety, and 
promised her his protection. 

In December, 1495, the Dauphin, then about three 
years old, was suddenly taken ill and died at Amboise, 
where he had always lived. Although he had been 
so little with his parents they were most anxious 
about him, and constant news of him had always 
been sent them. M. Le Roux de Lincy gives several 
letters written by the Queen to his governor, full of 
inquiries and directions respecting hirru He was a 
beautiful, precocious child, 2 and his death was a 
severe blow to his parents. Philippe de Commines, 
who had a grudge against Charles because he had 
been imprisoned by him and the Regent, says that 
he cared very little, being jealous of the Dauphin, a 
most absurd supposition regarding a child of three 

1 Commines. ' 2 Ibid. 



1495] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 325 

years old, and it being most unlikely that he should 
have x preferred his heir to be Louis d'Orleans instead 
of a son of his own. On the contrary, the shock made 
both Charles and Anne so ill and depressed that the 
doctors ordered the King to be amused, therefore 
many more gaieties took place at court than the 
Queen felt inclined for. She hated being present 
at them, and quarrelled with the Due d'Orleans 
because he seemed to her in such good spirits that 
she fancied he was glad to be again heir-presumptive 
and to be called " Monseigneur," which she could 
not bear to hear. 2 This caused a coolness between 
Louis and the King and Queen, so that he retired to v 
Blois, where he surrounded himself with literary men 
^nd collected a large library, including the books and 
manuscripts written by his father. Anne had another 
son next year, also named Charles, the following year 
one called Francois, and then a daughter named 
Anne. But although she got strong Bretonne women 
to nurse them and took every precaution she could 
not save any. None of them lived more than a few 
weeks. They were buried in an exquisitely sculp- ^/ 
tured tomb of white marble in the cathedral of Tours. 
The King and Queen, finding no medicine or cure 
any use, had tried various superstitious means. They 
had a whole coffer full of charms and amulets, and 
the people said it was a curse on them because they 
had not been free to marry each other. But they were 
still very young and hoped yet to have living children. 
Charles began to think that these misfortunes were 

1 Le Roux de Lincy, "Anne de Bretagne," t. i. p. 133. 

2 Brantome, "Dames illustres," t. v. p. 4. 



326 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1496 

the punishment of Heaven for his dissipated life, and 
resolved to reform. Anne was so uneasy and jealous 
of his proceedings that she could not bear him to be 
out of her sight, and had at one time brought on a 
miscarriage by persisting in going out hunting when 
/ she was enceinte because she did not want him to go 
without her. Now, however, Charles declared he 
would have no more love affairs, would give his 
whole attention to his kingdom and people. He 
had planned another Italian campaign and a crusade 
against the unbelievers, but it was strongly repre- 
sented to him that he ought not to leave France 
without having an heir. The Queen, who dreaded 
another long separation, was naturally of the 
same opinion, and Charles was persuaded to 
remain in France, and began to alter and decorate 
his favourite chateau of Amboise. He had brought 
books, pictures, statues, and all sorts of treasures from 
y^ Italy, and had become much influenced by the 
splendour of the renaissance then prevailing there. 
He began the great tower with an inclined ascent by 
which a troop of cavalry can ride to the top, from the 
lower entrance down by the river. 

The splendid old chateau had become more com- 
fortable and luxurious than ever under the rule of 
Anne de Bretagne. 1 Tapestries hung on the walls, 
thick carpets lay on the floors, curtains of damask 
and satin were over the beds and everywhere. The 
Queen was at Amboise with the King, who could not 
bear to be separated from her, and in whose pursuits 
and diversions she always shared. One day, about 

1 De Maulde-la-Claviere, " Louis XII.," t. ii. p. 272. 



1497] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 327 

two o'clock in the afternoon, he proposed that they 
should go and look on at a game of paume which 
was to be played dans les fosses du chateau. 

She consented, and the King, taking her by the 
hand, they left her private apartment together. 
They had to pass through a low, dirty, dilapidated 
gallery which Charles intended to have pulled down, 
and in entering which he struck his head violently 
against its arched doorway. 1 He declared, however, 
that he was not much hurt and they proceeded to 
the seats from which they were to watch the game. 
While it was going on the King talked and laughed 
as usual, but when it was over he complained of pain 
in his head and said he would go to his own room. 
The Queen, dreadfully frightened, went with him. 2 
As they walked back he began to speak of his 
repentance for the faults and follies of his life, and 
just as he said, " fespere bien ne commettre aucun peche\ 
soit mortel, soit ve'niel" he suddenly fell to the ground. 
They were again at the entrance of the fatal gallery, 
where a straw mattress being hastily thrown on the 
floor he was laid upon it. They dared not move him, 
so he lay there until about eleven at night, only 
recovering consciousness for a few moments, when, 
after murmuring, " Mon Dieu ! Vierge Marie ! Mon- 
seigneur Saint Claude ! Monseigneur Saint Blaise me 
soient en aide ! " he died. 3 

1 Commines ; Brantome, t. ii. p. 19, ed. Petitot. 

2 Villeneuve, " Mem. Anne de Bretagne," p. 246. 

3 Commines, Villeneuve, Godefroy, &c. 



CHAPTER III 

i 498- i 501 

Despair of the Queen — Resumes duchy — Friendship with Louis XII. — 
Returns to Bretagne — King's divorce — Charlotte d'Aragon — 
Marriage of Anne and Louis XII. — Italian war — Birth of Claude 
de France — Splendour of Court — Hotel des Tournelles — Maids of 
honour — Disaster in Italy. 

CHARLES VIII. died at dawn on Palm Sunday. 1 
The Queen, who was only two and twenty, had 
\/ now lost her mother, father, sister, children, and hus- 
band. In a frenzy of grief and despair she shut 
herself up in her own rooms where she remained 
crying, wringing her hands and refusing to eat. 

The Due d'Orleans, now Louis XII., was still at 
Blois, and much distressed at the melancholy state of 
the Queen. He sent the Cardinal Briconnet and the 
Bishop of Condon, who had been friends of hers and 
of Charles VIII., to see her. 2 They found her lying 
on the floor sobbing and crying in a corner of the 
room. She did not get up when they came in, but 
the Bishop, a man of holy life and intellectual power, 

1 Villeneuve, " Mem.," p. 246. 

2 Godefroy, " Hist. Charles VIII.," p. 745. 

328 



1498] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 329 

succeeded in comforting her so far that she listened 
to his words of consolation, rose, became calmer, and 
was persuaded to take some food. 

Then she began to think about her beloved 
Bretagne, now her own again, and directly she had 
finished that first repast she signed a decree re- 
establishing the chancellerie which had been sup- 
pressed. 

Her nearest remaining relation was her brother the 
Baron d'Avaugour, but she was very fond of her 
cousin, Jeanne de Laval, Queen-dowager of Sicily, 
to whom she wrote, telling her of the death of the 
King ; and also of the Prince of Orange, Jean de 
Chalons, for whom she sent at once and whom she 
made governor of Bretagne. 

Three days after the death of Charles, Louis XII. 
came to see her. He promised to give a splendid 
funeral to the late King, which he did. Anne 
ordered her mourning to be black instead of the 
white usually worn by Queens of France, and sent 
to the prelates, nobles, and bourgeois of Bretagne to 
come and escort her to Paris, where, according to 
custom, she was to pass the first months of widow- 
hood ; the hotel d'Estampes, one of the group forming 
the hotel St. Paul, having been prepared for her. 

On May 1 5th she left Amboise with her great Breton 
train, paid a state visit to the King, and establishing 
herself in her hotel turned her attention to the govern- 
ment of Bretagne, demanding from the Mditre de la 
Monnaie at Nantes the gold and silver coinage with 
the effigies of her father and herself, appointing her 
brother and other Breton nobles governors of the 



33o 



PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1498 



towns, from which the French troops were now with- 
drawn, 1 writing constantly to her relations, friends, 
and officers, and occasionally seeing Louis XII., who 
did everything he could to please her. 

For although he could not have been in love with 
her, as some historians assert, before she was ten 
years old, it is certain that he was 
now most anxious to marry her, 
not only as Duchesse de Bretagne 
but as the woman he admired and 
loved. 2 He was thirty-four, hand- 
some, and extremely attractive, and 
Anne, besides being ambitious and 
reluctant to lose the French crown, 
seems to have returned his affec- 
tion. A French writer remarks 
that her love for Charles had arisen 
from duty, and therefore was not 
likely to be very lasting,3 which 
may well have been the case. But 
it was evident that no such mar- 
riage could take place until Louis 
had obtained a divorce from his 
present wife, Jeanne de France, for 
which purpose he began negotiations with the Pope, 
the friendship between Anne and himself meanwhile 
increasing as may be seen by the following letter : — 

" Monsieur mon bon frere, — Je aye receu par 
le Sr de la Pomeraye, voz lectres & aveques sa charge 

1 Dom Lobineau, t. i. p. 823. 

2 Brantome, " Hommes illustres," t. ii. p. 59. 

3 Touchard Lafosse. 




LOUIS XII. 



1498] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 331 

entendu la singulere benevoleme & amyti<£ que me 
portes, dont je suys tres consolee & vous en remercie 
de tout mon cueur, vous priant de tousjours ainsi 
continuer comme c'est la ferme confiance de celle que 
est & a jamays serra. 

" Vostre bonne seure, cosine & allyee, 

"Anne." 1 

In June they met at Estampes and agreed to marry 
each other as soon as Louis could get his divorce. 
Anne went back to Paris, and later in the summer 
she went to Laval to stay with the Queen-dowager of 
Sicily, after which she returned to Bretagne, where 
she was received with great state and universal joy. 
Delighted to be once more in possession of her own 
duchy she resolved now that she had recovered the 
reins of government never again to let them slip 
out of her hands. Under her supervision a history 
of Bretagne was written by a learned priest, her 
almoner, from the papers and records in different 
monasteries. 

She ruled Bretagne as a sovereign princess with 
much wisdom and capacity, and being generous and 
charitable she made various excellent laws for the 
good of the people. Her own household she arranged 
on a magnificent scale, and appointed a guard of a 
hundred Breton gentlemen who escorted her wherever 
she went. 

While she was at Nantes her old governess, Madame 
de Laval, died, to her great sorrow. 

1 Biblio. Imp., fonds Bethune, MS. 8465, fol. 10, recto (Le Roux 
de Lincy). 



332 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1499 

The question of the King's divorce was heard 
before an ecclesiastical tribunal, and the marriage 
dissolved by Alexander VI. (Borgia). 

Louis made Jeanne Duchesse de Berry and gave 
her a splendid appanage of lands and money. She 
retired to Bourges, founded the order of the Annon- 
ciades, became Superior of it, and died in 1500, after 
a life of charity and devotion. The dissolution of a 
marriage to which he had always had an unconquer- 
able repugnance cannot be considered surprising, but 
at first many of the people were indignant and pointed 
at the judges, saying, " There is Caiaphas, there is 
Herod, there is Pontius Pilate ; they have judged 
against la haute dame that she is not Queen of 
France." x 

Alexander VI., 2 of the noble Spanish family of 
Borgia, had in his youth a natural daughter, the 
famous Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara, and four sons. 
The eldest and youngest he married to daughters of 
the King of Naples, the second, Giovanni, Duca di 
Gandia was supposed to have been murdered by his 
next brother, the Cardinal Cesare, or Caesar, who had 
become a soldier and who surpassed most of his 
contemporaries in the enormity of his crimes. The 
Pope now sent him to France with a Cardinal's hat 
for George d'Amboise, the King's favourite minister, 
and the bull for the dissolution of his marriage, 
Louis promising him the duchy of Valentinois, a 
large pension and one of his relations in marriage. 

The court was at Chinon when he arrived. His 

1 Douey d'Attichy, "Madame Jeanne de France de Valois," &c, 
p. 143. 2 Morery. 



p^ /^p 







BOURGES. 



334 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1499 

followers, horses, and mules were covered with silk, 
velvet, and cloth of gold. The horse he rode had 
trappings of cloth of gold covered with precious 
stones ; he himself wore a dress of red satin and 
cloth of gold bordered with pearls and gems ; his 
hat was trimmed with a double row of rubies as big 
as beans, which shed a strange light ; even his 
boots were covered with gold cords and edged with 
pearls. Around his neck was a necklace or collar 
n/ worth 30,000 ducats. 1 He gave the cardinal's hat 
to the King, telling him that the bull was not ready, 
although he had it with him, as he hoped to be 
able to extort something more from Louis. The 
Pope's nuncio however told the King that the dis- 
pensation had been made out long ago, and that 
Caesar had got it. He was therefore obliged to deliver 
it up, but he invited the nuncio to dinner, and, as he 
was foolish enough to accept, he died of poison 
shortly afterwards. 

The wife upon whom Borgia fixed his choice was 
Charlotte d'Aragon, daughter of Frederic III., King of 
Naples and Sicily, called Princesse de Tarente at the 
French Court, where her mother, the niece of Queen 
Charlotte de Savoie, had been brought up. When 
she died, as Frederic, engaged in perpetual strife, 
could not look after his daughter, she had been 
adopted by Charles VIII. when about ten years old, 
and lived at court ever since. 2 She had a complete 
household, a litter, mule, and several horses, being 

1 Brantome, " Capitaines etrangers," t. 1. p. 404. 

2 " Etat de la maison d'Anne de Bretagne," p. 708. " Hist. Charles 
VIII." Godefroy. 



y 



1500] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 335 

treated as a royal princess, 1 and was demoiselle 
(Vhonnear to the Queen. She grew up into a most 
attractive girl — pretty, clever, amusing, kindhearted ; 
the favourite of the whole court. The Queen, who 
was extremely fond of her, when, after the death of 
Charles VIII., she returned to Bretagne, gave her a 
silver toilette service and parted from her reluctantly. 

When Charlotte heard that Caesar Borgia wanted 
to marry her she was very much alarmed, very much 
horrified, and very angry. She declared that she 
would not marry that abominable man, and entreated 
her father and every one she knew to protect her. 
Borgia, who had set his mind on her, and also hoped 
to get hold of the principality of Tarentum, pressed 
for an answer. Charlotte positively refused, declaring 
that she would not have for her husband a priest, the 
son of a priest, and a fratricide, whose birth and con- 
duct were alike, infamous. Csesar revenged himself 
by getting up a league against Frederic, who fled to 
Ischia and thence to France. The Queen was 
delighted with her courage, and in 1 500 married her 
to Guy de Laval, a handsome young Breton noble, 
very rich and a cousin of her own, so that Charlotte 
not only became still more nearly connected with the 
Queen, but remained at court. 

Anne chose to be married at Nantes in January, 
and this time the contract secured her entire control 
of the government and revenues of Bretagne, with >/ 
power to leave it to her own heirs after the death of 
the King if they had no children. Besides her dowry 

1 Tomasi, " Bibliophile Jacob, Hist. xvi. Siecle," i. p. 176. Le 
Roux de Lincy. 




336 PICTURES OF THE OED FRENCH COURT 



from Charles she had one of equal amount for her life 
from Louis. 

The King and Queen spent most of the winter in 
Bretagne, hunting and amusing themselves, and in 
April travelled slowly to Blois, great festivities 
attending their progress. 

The Queen's second marriage was much happier 
than the first. In appearance, intellect, and cha- 
racter Louis was far superior to Charles. The 
intrigues and dissipations of his former life dis- 
appeared before the higher, nobler love of which 
Charles was incapable. No suspicion of unfaithful- 
v - ness ever arose between Anne and Louis ; T she had 
regained her beloved duchy, the management of 
which was her chief interest aad occupation, besides 
the share she took in the government of France. 
Though she had no better luck with the sons of her 
second than of her first marriage her two daughters 
lived, and upon them she lavished the passionate 
affection she had given to the first Dauphin. Louis 
was the idol of France ; since the days of St. Louis 
there had been no such king. To the virtues of 
Charles V. he united the gallant grace and charm of 
the Valois, and the people called him " le pere du 
peupleP 

Inheriting also the warlike spirit of his house, he 
resolved to make an expedition to conquer the duchy 
of Milan, now seized by Ludovico Sforza, but which 
he claimed as heir of his grandmother, Valentine 
Visconti. 

The Queen, in her anxiety about the child she was 

1 Sainte-Marthe, t. ii. p. 620. De Seyssel. 



1500] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 337 

expecting, instead of accompanying him to the 
frontier waited at Romorantin as the plague was at 
Blois. Even there some of her household had it, and 
when it abated she proceeded to Blois where her 
daughter was born and named after Ste. Claude, to n/ 
whose shrine she had just made a pilgrimage. 

Notwithstanding his desire to have a son, Louis 
received the news with great joy just as he was 
entering Milan, and both he and the Queen were 
always devoted to this child, which though small and J 
delicate lived to grow up. Not long afterwards Louis 
returned with his victorious army, and the court 
resumed its wonted gaiety, the Queen being anxious 
that it should be the most magnificent in Europe. 
She was very rich, exceedingly generous, and always 
ready to pay any expenses that Louis, who was more 
economical, thought too great. She held many 
tournaments, at which she gave splendid prizes ; she 
was a great benefactress to the religious orders, 
especially to the Cordeliers and Minimes, to whom >/ 
she gave convents, 1 and crowds of poor people 
waited for alms at her gates. 

The hotel St. Paul, the favourite palace of Charles 
V. and Charles VI., was now deserted. It was con- 
sidered unhealthy because of the malaria arising 
from its many moats and ponds, and Louis XI. gave 
away most of the splendid hotels belonging to it. 2 

Louis XII. and Anne, when in Paris, lived at Les 

1 De Mezeray. 

2 The buildings were sold in 1542 and pulled down ; scarcely a trace 
remains of them except a tower at the corner of the rue St. Paul, 
which may have belonged to one. 

23 



338 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1500 

v/ Tournelles, a most picturesque and delightful old 
chateau near St. Paul, but more healthy. It was 
built in 1380, and had belonged to Jean Due de 
Berry, Charles VI., and Louis d'Orleans. It was 
named from being a mass of little towers and turrets, 
was very large and convenient, stood in a wood 
like a country house, had chapels, galleries and 
gardens with fountains and seats of turf. The Duke 
of Bedford lived there during the English rule, and 
y his beautiful wife, Anne of Burgundy ; they kept 
flocks of peacocks and other rare birds. 

Louis and Anne were as fond of animals as their 
predecessors. The Queen kept a large hawking 
, establishment, and numbers of horses and mules ; 
her stables were magnificent, and her litters and 
chariots branlants (suspended) lined with soft 
cushions and costly stuffs. She had many dogs of 
different breeds and sizes. 

The position of the Queen's ladies was very dis- 
tinguished and important. Already in 1492 she had 

sixteen dames and eighteen demoiselles, of the noblest 
J . . 

families. She was very strict, keeping constant 

supervision over their books, songs, and amusements, 

and forbidding them to be alone with the gentlemen 

of the court, or talk to them about love that had 

nothing to do with marriage. If they disobeyed her 

she was implacable, otherwise she treated them with 

unbounded kindness, gave them the same luxuries 

she had herself, and took the. greatest care of them in 

illness. An existing account mentions silver plate 

and a fur-lined coverlet for the night, ordered for 

^ Anne de Foix when she was ill. She gave them 



1500] 



ANNE DE BRETAGNE 



139 



dowries, arranged their marriages, and if their 
husbands lived far away sent somebody to take care 
of them and bring her news of them. Some she 
loved almost like her own children. 

Ladislas, King of Hungary, Poland, and Bohemia, 
being a widower, wanted a French princess for his 
wife. The Queen selected Anne de Candale and 
Germaine de Foix, both pretty 
girls and princesses of Foix, and 
sent him their portraits. He 
chose Anne, who did not wish to 
be Queen of Hungary, but to 
marry the Comte de Dunois, son 
of the Queen's old friend whom 
he did not resemble, for though 
handsome and agreeable he was 
supposed to be wanting in 
courage. The Queen would not 
hear of it, and notwithstanding 
the tears and objections of the 
young princess the marriage was 
celebrated by proxy, and she 
started with a brilliant retinue in 
charge of Bretagne, King-at-arms, whose account of 
the grandeur of her reception, presents, &c, still exists 
in the Bibliotheque Ii?iperiale. Ladislas was enchanted 
with her and wrote with enthusiastic gratitude to the 
Queen, who was very fond of and anxious about her, 
and many messengers and letters passed between 
them ; but the princess, who never became reconciled 
to her splendid exile, died in giving birth to a 
son. 




LADY OF THE FIF- 
TEENTH CENTURY. 



340 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [[501 

Germaine de Foix became the second wife of 
Ferdinand, King of Spain. 

The Queen apparently acted in an arbitrary manner 
towards Anne de Rohan, who clandestinely married 
a natural son of the house of Bourbon, and who, after 
a stormy scene with her royal mistress, left the court 
and was imprisoned by her father at a chateau in a 
forest until, hearing that her husband had married 
somebody else in Germany, she became the wife of 
her cousin, Pierre de Rohan. 1 

Caesar Borgia had insisted on a wife being found 
for him, and the person so sacrificed was Charlotte, 
the youngest daughter of Alain d'Albret His con- 
sent was bought by an enormous dowry from the 
Pope and a cardinal's hat for one of his family. Five 
years later Csesar Borgia was killed in a skirmish, and 
the Duchess de Valentinois, his widow, who was 
universally respected, retired in peace with her 
daughter to a castle in Berry. 2 

In April came disastrous news from Milan, which 
had revolted against the French, who now only held the 
fortress itself.3 The King sent Louis de la Tremoille 
and the Cardinal d'Amboise immediately to take 
command, and the wise counsels of the one and the 
military capacity of the other so rapidly turned the 
tide that France was again victorious, Sforza was 
taken prisoner, " and thus," says the chronicler, " was 
the duchy of Milan twice conquered in seven months 
and a half, and for this time the war in Lombardy 
finished.4 

1 Le Roux de Lincy. 2 Hilarion, de la Coste. 

3 Guizot, " Hist. France," t. ii. p. 505. 4 Jean d'Auton, 



CHAPTER IV 
i 501-1506 

Ludovico Sforza — Shipbuilding — Queen's gardens — Library — Treasures 
— Dress — Betrothal of Claude de France — Archduke and Arch- 
duchess — Illness of King — Marechal de Gie — Second illness of 
King — Queen in Bretagne — Second betrothal of Princess Claude. 

LUDOVICO SFORZA was imprisoned at 
Loches, at first rigorously, but afterwards 
with indulgence, being allowed books, paper, ink, 
cards, paume, &c. He died in captivity. 

Louis had a project for the conquest of Naples, 
which displeased the Queen, by whom he was in 
most matters greatly influenced, and whom he called 
" Ma Bre tonne." She saw that these expeditions 
always caused disasters to France, and had much 
more sympathy with his desire for a crusade against 
the Turks, who had invaded Greece. Out of her own 
revenues she raised soldiers and sailors and had 
twelve large ships built in the seaports of Bretagne. 
The largest, Marie la Cordeliere, of 2,000 tons, carried 
100 guns. 1 Anne took the deepest interest in the 

1 De Mezeray. 
341 



342 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1501 

navy, upon which she spent large sums, but managed 
her affairs so well that in spite of her princely 
generosity she had no debts but always plenty of 
money. 

This crusade was unsuccessful, the ships being 
damaged by a tempest. 

Anne filled her household with her faithful Bretons. 




Her guard of gentlemen assembled always on the 
terrace at Blois, called " la Perche aux Bretons." She 
never kept them waiting, but would rise and hasten 
towards them saying, " There are my Bretons on their 
perch expecting me." J To her the French queens 
owed the right to have their especial guard, also the 
right to receive separately all foreign ambassadors. 

1 Brantome, " Dames illustres," t. v. p. 8. 



1501] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 343 

She delighted in flowers and gardening, her 
favourite gardens being those of Amboise, given her 
by Charles VIII., and of Blois by Louis XII. She 
was also extremely fond of books, and had a splendid 
library, for, besides all she inherited from her father 
and the French kings, Charles VIII. brought her 
eleven hundred and forty from Naples and Louis 
XII. a thousand manuscripts from the library of the 
Visconti at Milan. She employed a colony of / 
painters, sculptors, scribes, and architects brought 
from Italy and established at Tours by Charles 
VIII., and consequently possessed numbers of artistic 
treasures, including that wonderful illuminated book 
containing the psalms, prayers, and offices of the 
Church richly adorned with flowers, animals, land- 
scapes, portraits and scenes in miniature well known 
as the " Livre d'Heures d'Anne de Bretagne," and 
one of the most perfect examples of French art of 
that day. 1 

She had a little room with boxes and drawers full 
of costly jewels to give as presents. For dress per- 
sonally she cared little, although especially on state 
occasions she was always magnificent in her toilette. ""• 
The fashions in her reign were exceedingly graceful 
and artistic. Fine linen, velvet or satin shoes, long 
trailing dresses open in front, made of cloth of gold 
and crimson silk or velvet, with a golden girdle and 
chaplet of pearls, chains and jewels round the neck, 
headdress of white silk embroidered with gold and 
pearls, hoods of cloth, satin, or velvet, scarlet for 
bourgeoises, black for nobles. Sometimes long dresses 

1 Musee des Souverains, Louvre. 



344 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1502 

of black velvet. These were purely French till late 
in this reign when Italian and Flemish costumes 
began to be copied. 1 Charles VIII., being short and 
ill-made, re-introduced the long robes of former 
times, but Louis XII., who was tall and graceful, 
usually wore short clothes. The Queen created an 
order for the ladies of the court, called the Cordeliere, 
from the cords that bound Christ : the badge was a 
jewelled necklace in the form of a cord. 

Before the Princess Claude was two years old 
proposals came from the Emperor Maximilian to 
marry her to his grandson, the Duke of Luxem- 
burg, son of the Archduke Philip of Austria. In 
France the general desire was that she should 
become the wife of the Comte d'Angouleme, heir- 
presumptive to the throne of that country, but the 
Queen strongly favoured the Austrian alliance. In 
November, 1501, the Archduke and Archduchess 
arrived on a visit. They were mounted on mules 
covered with trappings of crimson velvet, next rode 
a long train of ladies, and six hundred horses carried 
litters and drew waggons after them. The pro- 
cession entered Blois at night; as it wound up 
the steep street torches blazed on every house, and 
the grand staircase of the castle was lined with 
hundreds of archers of the guard in gilded armour. 
The King, sitting in a great carved chair by the 
fire, welcomed them, and asked the Archduchess if 
it was her pleasure to bestow a kiss upon him, 
which she did, after asking permission of the 
Bishop of Cordova. Louis then saying that he 

1 Roger-Miles, " Comment discerner les styles," &c. 



1503] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 345 

knew the ladies would like to be alone together, she 
was taken to the Queen's rooms, where Anne sat 
by the fire surrounded by her ladies, who, it may here 
be remarked generally sat on the floor or on cushions, 
not many chairs being usual in the rooms. Later, 
she retired to her bedchamber, where, escorted by six 
pages in red and yellow with wax candles in gold . 
candlesticks, quantities of all kinds of sweetmeats 
were carried to her by ladies and gentlemen, with 
gold and silver boxes of knives, forks, serviettes, &c, 
which were all placed on buffets and on the bed. 
The Queen's apothecary followed, and afterwards 
came silver warming-pans and washing basins, velvet 
coffers of brushes, combs, sponges, mirrors, and fine 
linen. 1 

The Princess Claude had been brought down, but 
directly she saw her proposed mother-in-law she cried 
so loud that she had to be removed by her gover- 
ness. 2 

The Archduke had supper downstairs, but the King 
did not join him as he was keeping the fast of Notre 
Dame des Avents on bread and water. They stayed 
five days, and the betrothal of the Princess was 
concluded. 

January 21, 1503, was born a Dauphin, who, how- 
ever, died immediately, to the general grief and 
disappointment. 

Next came news of reverses in Italy and the loss of 
two battles, soon after which the King became very 
ill. The Queen nursed him untiringly, scarcely ever 
leaving his room ; every one was in consternation, and 

1 Godefroy, " Ceremonial francais." - Ibid. 



346 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1503 

the doctors gave up all hope of his recovery. Anne 
was in despair. Added to her grief for him was the 
dread of what would be the position of herself and 
her daughter in the event of his death and the 
triumph of Louise de Savoie and the hostile party, 
at the head of which was Pierre de Rohan, Mare- 
chal de Gie, a Breton who had taken the side of 
France against Bretagne. 

She therefore ordered the officers of her household 
to load two or three great barges on the Loire with 
all her treasure and take them down to Nantes. 
Then, if the King died, she could retreat with her 
child to Bretagne, where they would be safe among 
their own subjects. 

But Gie, thinking the King's death at hand, had 
the insolence to stop the Queen's barges, placing 
10,000 archers to watch the Loire and prevent the 
Princess Claude being carried out of France. 1 This 
attempt of one of her own subjects to take from 
her guardianship her daughter, the heiress of Bre- 
tagne, not of France, and to seize the property settled 
on her by two kings, was not likely to be forgiven 
by the Queen. Gie had overreached himself, for 
Louis suddenly recovered, and on hearing of his 
conduct, ordered his arrest. The judges who tried 
him hated him, and condemned him to death, but 
this sentence was quashed by the King, and Gi6 
was heavily fined, deprived of his post, and banished 
from court for five years. Some French historians, 
who seem to think any means justifiable to gain a 
province for France, approve his conduct, and call 

1 Lobineau. 



1505] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 347 

Anne vindictive for insisting on its punishment ; 
others will probably consider that he got what he 
deserved. 

Gie retired to his magnificent chateau of Verger, 
and the clercs de la Basoche gave a play called 
" Trop chauffer cuit, trop parler nuit" alluding to 
him. In another they said, " Un Marechal avait 
voulu fewer une Anne (dne), mats elle lui avait donne 
un si gj'and coup de pied qitelle V avait jete hors de 
la, cour, pardessus les murailles jusque dedans le 
verger." * 

They were very witty, often impertinent. When 
the King was told that they had ventured to repre- 
sent him, because of some necessary retrenchment, as 
Avarice, he said that the people might laugh, and he 
would rather be called avaricious than extravagant ; 
but when they attempted any ridicule of the Queen 
he sternly forbade it, saying he would suffer no 
disrespect to his wife, nor for that matter to any 
woman in his kingdom. 

The Queen's second coronation at St. Denis and 
entry into Paris took place when the King was 
convalescent — with the same splendour as the first. 
It was by torchlight, and after the usual fetes and 
banquet at the Palais they returned to Touraine, 
and spent the rest of the summer at Blois, Loches, ^ 
and Amboise with the Princess Claude. 

The year 1 505 opened with an unsatisfactory state 
of affairs in Italy, 2 where many of the best French 
officers, amongst them the Chevalier Bayard, were 

1 Brantome, D'Argentre, Jean d'Auton. 

2 " LArt de verifier les dates." 



348 PICTURES OF THE OED FRENCH COURT [1505 

still engaged. The King became depressed and out 
of spirits, all the more because of the dispute about 
his daughter, whose marriage the Emperor kept 
urging him to celebrate immediately with the Duke 
of Luxemburg, while the French were so vehemently 
in favour of Francois, whom he had created Due de 
Valois, that he felt both he and the Queen were 
for the first time becoming unpopular. These 
matters so preyed upon his mind as to bring on 
an illness more serious than the last. He was 
seized with fever and delirium, and all the country 
was plunged into grief and alarm. Again the Queen 
nursed him night and day, the people thronged 
the churches, J masses were chanted, long lines 
of cowled figures carried holy relics, with banners, 
crosses, and swinging censers through the streets, 
peasants left their work and multitudes with bare 
feet, tears and lamentations flocked after the pro- 
cessions. The Queen vowed that if he recovered 
she would make a pilgrimage to Notre Dame du 
Foil-Coat in Bretagne before the year was out. 2 

A romantic incident caused by this calamity was 
the death of Tommasina Spinola, a beautiful Genoese 
who had fallen in love with Louis in Italy. It was 
a platonic, chivalrous romance, to which neither her 
husband nor the Queen objected, and after the shock 
of hearing that Louis was dead had been fatal to 
her, he, having by this time recovered, desired Jean 
d'Auton to write a record of her, which was presented 
to him and the Queen at Tours.3 

1 " Jean de Saint Gelais." 2 Le Roux de Lincy. 

3 Spinola was one of the four great Genoese families allowed to build 




LOCHES. 



35o PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1506 

In the summer the Queen set off for Bretagne 
to fulfil her vow about the pilgrimage, leaving the 
King at Blois with their child. 

When once Anne was in Bretagne it was no easy 

matter to get her away again, although Louis was 

now left with Louise de Savoie, and all those who 

were anxious for the French instead of the Austrian 

v/ marriage of the Princess Claude. 

She took her ladies and a large suite of French 
nobles, and was joined by numbers of Bretons, her 
progress through her own dominions being one con- 
tinual triumph. She visited many of the towns, 
which were richly decorated, and gave splendid 
joustes and other fetes in her honour, and having 
made her neuvaine and offerings at Foil-Coat, she 
summoned the States, transacted a great deal of 
business, and went to Brest to see her favourite 
ship, Marie-la-Cordeliere. 

The King, however, got very tired of being without 
her, and sent her a message to come and join him at 
Angers. She was then at Morlaix suffering from 
inflammation in the eye, and sent for a relic 
supposed to be the finger of St. John Baptist, to 
cure her. It was kept in a church at Plougarnon, 
not far off, but she was presently told that it had 
disappeared on the way, and been found in the 
church again. Then Anne with all her suite went to 
Plougarnon, slept in the village, and attended mass 
at the dawn of day in the ancient church with 
massive square tower and quaint leaden steeple, 

their palaces of striped black and white marble. The others were 
Grimaldi, Fieschi, and Doria. 



1506] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 351 

standing in a green valley by a brook flowing 
down to the sea. x The Bishop of Nantes touched 
the Queen's eye with the relic when she had received 
the Communion ; she made her offerings, and the 
pilgrimage was finished. 2 

The King kept writing to her to come back, and 
began to get very angry at her delay. The Cardinal 
d'Amboise, who was very much in the confidence of 
them both, wrote three sensible and urgent letters, 3 
assuring her that he had never seen the King so dis- v 
pleased, and begging her to return ; saying what 
a pity it would be if any dissension should arise 
between them ; also that the King was going back 
to Blois and thence by water to Amboise, taking 
Princess Claude and the Countess d'Angouleme with v 
him. The Queen therefore brought her Breton tour 
to an end, and returned to Blois in September. 

Her arrival dispelled the King's vexation, but to 
her dismay she found him bent upon breaking off 
the Austrian engagement of their daughter, for many 
were murmuring against the Queen for allowing her 
dislike of Louise de Savoie to influence her to the 
detriment of France. Even the Bretons preferred 
the future King of France to the grandson of the 
Emperor, and although the prediction of Anne that 
Francois would not care about Claude, who was ^ 
neither pretty, clever, nor attractive, was certainly 
verified, there seems no reason to suppose she 

1 Le Roux de Lincy. 2 Ibid. 

3 These valuable letters were first published by M. Le Roux de Lincy 
in his work on Anne de Bretagne ; they belonged to the collection 
Lajariette. 



352 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1506 

would have been happier with the Duke of Luxem- 
burg, afterwards Charles V. Louis said he was 
resolved " de rCallier ses souris qu'aux rats de son 
grenier ; " and when Anne impatiently remarked, 
"To hear you one would think mothers conspired 
to injure their daughters," he asked if she thought 
it was the same thing to rule Bretagne as to wear 
the crown of France, saying, " Voulez-vous preferer le 
bat dun ane (Anne) a la selle dun chevalf" and 
as she still seemed unconvinced, he told her that 
at the Creation God gave horns to hinds as well 
as stags, but finding they wanted to govern every- 
body, He took them away as a punishment. x 

But not wishing to act in defiance of the Queen, 
Louis agreed that at the meeting of the States at 
Tours, in May, 1506, the deputies should implore 
him on their knees to consent to the marriage of 
the Princess Claude to Francois, Due de Valois. 
As he had foreseen, the Queen could not then 
oppose it ; and on Ascension Day the children 
were betrothed in the great hall of the Castle of 
Plessis les Tours, she being six and he twelve years 
old.- 

1 De Mezeray, " Hist. France," p. 375. 

2 Dane, " Hist. Bretagne," t. iii. p. 242 ; Henault, Ste.-Marthe. 



CHAPTER V 
i 503-1514 

Story of Anne de Graville — Illness of Claude — Court of Anne de 
Bretagne — Italian war — Marriage of Marguerite d'Angouleme 
— Dress and customs at Court — Birth of Renee de France — The 
Prince de Chalais — The Queen ill — Birth and death of a son — 
League of Cambrai — Sea-fight— Death of Queen. 



T 



HOUGH much vexed at her daughter's engage- 
ment the Queen still hoped something might 
happen to prevent the marriage ; meanwhile she 
formed the household of the Princess, and amongst 
others she placed in it Anne de Graville, one of her 
demoiselles d'honneur, a sister of whom had been in 
that of the King's first wife. To Anne, as to some of 
her companions, is attached a romance, which, after 
four hundred years, clings to her memory, and like 
the scent of rose leaves and lavender in some old- 
fashioned country house, the refrain of an ancient 
ballad or the quaint phrases traced in faded ink 
on some letter yellow with age coming to us from 
a long-vanished generation, seems to give us a 
momentary glimpse into the life of those far-off 
days. 

24 353 



V 



354 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1503 

Louis de Malet, Admiral de Graville, bore one of 
the oldest names in France, and had been the favour- 
ite of three kings. That he was a man of great 
capacity and wisdom is proved by his correspon- 
dence, now existing in the Bibliotheque Imperiale. He 
was also extremely cultivated. He gave a bell to 
Rouen Cathedral, built the portal of Sens and a 
church near Paris. He collected a valuable library 
of manuscripts, with illuminations, miniatures, poems 
in French and Italian, &c, and filled his chateau of 
Marcoussy with pictures and splendid furniture. 

Marcoussy, about eighteen miles from Paris, was 
one of the most imposing castles in the Ile-de- 
France, with its massive walls, huge towers, and 
deep moats, surrounded by trees and gardens with 
terraces, fountains, and fishponds. Here he passed 
most of his time when not occupied in public 
affairs, and here grew up his children, Louis, 
Joachim, Jeanne, Louise, and Anne. They studied 
music, poetry, literature, and received altogether as 
good an education as was then attainable. The 
youngest, Anne, was herself the authoress of a 
poem written on one of the stories of Boccaccio, 
and many an exquisite embroidery for church or 
convent was done by the three sisters. 

But upon the prosperous, happy lives of the Gra- 
villes sorrow began to fall. Louis and Joachim died, 
and their loss so affected their mother that she also 
died in March, 1503, desiring to be buried near 
Joachim in the monastery of Marcoussy. Louise 
and Jeanne had made brilliant marriages, and Anne 
was left alone with her father, whose favourite she 



1503] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 355 

was, and who dreaded parting with her. However, 
between marriage and the cloister there was no alter- 
native, and the Admiral wrote to her saying he had 
received offers from three young nobles, of whom he 
thought the first frivolous, the second rash and hasty, 
but the third, though less rich, was sensible and irre- 
proachable in character. 1 

But meanwhile, Anne fell in love with her cousin 
Pierre, Baron d'Entragues, illegitimate son of Robert 
de Balzac, a young soldier of four and twenty who, 
fearing the Admiral might not allow the marriage, 
carried her off; some said with, others without her 
consent. At any rate she forgave him, and their 
marriage was celebrated without waiting for the 
permission of the Admiral, who was very angry, 
threatened to disinherit his daughter and forbade 
any one to help them. The Baron d'Entragues had 
no money and when he applied for help to his 
relations they refused ; the young people had nothing 
to live upon and did not know what to do. So they 
bethought themselves of the good monks of the 
Celestin convent of Marcoussy and took refuge with 
them. The Prior and brotherhood received them 
with kindness, sympathy, and promises of help, and 
they stayed in the monastery waiting till Good 
Friday, which was now approaching, when the 
Admiral was sure to come there to church. 

Accordingly, when he presented himself at the 
office of the veneration of the Cross, the Prior 
stopped him, saying, " Dare you approach with your 
lips the sacred wood on which the Son of God shed 

1 Letter preserved in Archives of Chateau de Marcoussy. 



356 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1507 

His precious blood to reconcile men with His Father; 
if you have not resolved from your heart to forgive 
your two children who are here at your knees with 
profound repentance imploring pardon for their 
fault?" As he spoke Pierre and Anne threw 
themselves on their knees before him. The solemn 
words of the Prior and the sight of the child who had 
always been so dear to him were too much for the 
Admiral, he held out his arms to them both, and 
took them back with him to the castle. 1 The 
marriage proved a very happy one. Anne had a long 
prosperous life, and one of her children inherited 
Marcoussy. 

In the spring of 1507, Louis went to Genoa, to put 
down a revolt there, which, having done, he recrossed 
the Alps and came to Grenoble, where the Queen went 
to meet him. While he was there the Princess Claude 
was seized with a kind of continuous fever which 
greatly alarmed and distressed the Queen, who kept 
up a constant correspondence with Madame des 
Bouchage, governess to the little princess, being 
always fully informed of her condition. The doctors 
at first declared she would not recover, but as she very 
soon became much better, the Queen, who did not 
believe in doctors because they had been altogether 
wrong about her eldest son, and failed to save either 
him or any of her other children, was so angry, and 
so confirmed in her opinion that she wrote to 
Madame des Bouchage that the child was not to see 

1 Archives of Monastery of Marcoussy, " Histoire manuscrites des 
convent et des seigneurs de Marcoussy &c," given by M. Le Roux de 
Lincy. 



1508] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 357 

any more of them, for they were no use, she must 
take care of her herself. 1 The Princess Claude soon >/ 
recovered. 

The Italian war dragged on. The league of 
Cambrai was formed against Venice in 1508, and 
Louis was eager to be again at the head of the 
French army. Anne did all she could to dissuade 
him, and tried to induce him to return to Blois, 
assuring him that Claude was fretting to see him, 2 w 
but it was useless. He recrossed the Alps, and 
soon came tidings of the victory of Agnadel and 
conquest of nearly all the Venetian mainland pro- 
vinces.3 

He returned, safe and victorious, to Blois at the 
end of the summer, and there during that year took 
place the wedding of Marguerite, sister of Francois, 
Due de Valois, with the Due d'Alencon. It was 
celebrated with suitable splendour and followed by a 
great banquet and ball, after which there were joustes. 
The Due de Valois kept the lists with eight others, 
served by the King himself, the princes who 
contended were so young that small lances were 
made on purpose. The Pope's legate not being well, 
looked on from a window. Next day they fought 
again, this time in white armour, the bridegroom 
dressed in white satin. The Queen and her ladies 
gave the prizes.4 

They all delighted in festivities and amusements, 

1 Bibliotheque Imperiale. MS. 8457, fol. 5, given by Le Roux de 
Lincy. 

2 Jean d'Auton. 

3 Guizot, " Hist. France," t. ii. p. 520. Henault, Sainte-Marthe. 

4 Touchard-Lafosse, "Hist. Blois." St. Gelais. 



358 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1508 

fetes champetres were often given in the open air, 
a favourite day being Mid-Lent Sunday, called, 
especially in the valleys of the Marne and Meuse, 
dimanche des fontaines. M. Simeon de Luce describes 
those given in a preceding reign by Beatrix de 
Bourlemont when young men and girls from the 
neighbouring chateaux and peasants from the villages 
hung garlands, dined, sang, and danced under an 
ancient beech tree said to be haunted by fairies. 1 

A solemn and important domesticate in the country 
was the first mass of a young priest. M. de Ribbe 
describes one of their mediaeval village festivals. 
Presents were given, relations and friends assembled as 
for a marriage or christening. They walked to church 
two and two in a long procession, minstrels playing 
before them and crowds following. A collection was 
made in church and then there was a great banquet 
in the bergerie to which the relations contributed 
various dishes, the cooking being done in a mill close 
by. 2 

On the opening of parliament it was customary to 
present quantities of roses and violets to the members, 
one special person being responsible. De Sauval 
mentions an account owing to Marguerite le Mercier, 
marchande de roses, for four dozen chapeaux of red 
roses, eight bouquets of violets, and a great basinful 
of flowers to cover the table, distributed to the 
Presidents, Councillors, and other officers of the 
King, the vigil of the feast of Whitsuntide, who were 
assembled at the Chastelet for the deliverance of the 

1 " Revue des deux Mondes," 1 Mai, 1885. 

2 " La Societe provencale, a la fin du Moyen Age." 



1509] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 359 

prisoners in the said Chastelet " comme d anciennte a 
este coutume de faire!' 1 

Renee de France was born October, 1 509. Amidst - 
the general disappointment at not getting a Dauphin, 
the King and Queen rejoiced that this child lived. 
She was afterwards the celebrated Duchess of 
Ferrara. 

The Queen from this time entertained the project 
of leaving Bretagne to Renee, if she could not break 
off Claude's marriage, and constantly endeavoured to 
gain the consent of the King ; but, although, dreading 
the outcry which would be the consequence, he would 
not agree to her wishes, it seems very possible, 
considering her great influence over him, that had 
she lived longer she would have succeeded in 
carrying out one or other of these plans. During her 
lifetime she would never allow the marriage of ^ 
Claude to take place. 

Anne was extremely fond of music ; amongst other 
musicians in her household were four Bretons 
minstrels. About six months after the birth of 
Renee, being at Chartres, she was so struck with the 
voice of a chorister boy in the cathedral that she 
asked the chapter to give him to her, and in return 
for their doing so she said, " You have given me a 
little voice and I will give you a large one," and 
accordingly presented them with a great bell, named 
" Anne de Bretagne " to be rung every day from 
Easter to Trinity, and 3,000 livres. 2 

1 " Antiquitez de Paris." 

2 Le Roux de Lincy quotes " Hist, de l'auguste et venerable eglise de 
Chartres, &c," Chartres, 1683. 



360 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1510 

She rather prided herself upon her conversational 
J powers, indeed, writers of her day assert that nobody 
could talk better, either in society or on State affairs. 
The King, who liked to have her opinion about 
everything that went on, always sent the ambassadors 
to her after an audience with him. 

One day she was going to receive the Spanish 
ambassador, and not understanding Spanish she 
asked her chamberlain, the Prince de Chalais, who 
understood several languages, to teach her some 
sentences to say to him. Chalais, who had a mania 
for playing practical jokes, without considering 
whether the Queen was a proper subject for one, 
taught her some words not possible in any decent 
society. Fortunately for himself he was so delighted 
with his trick or so doubtful of the result of it that, 
just before the audience, he told it to the King. He 
laughed but hastened to warn the Queen, who was, of 
course, exceedingly angry, would not receive Chalais 
for some days, and would have dismissed him had not 
theKing dissuaded her, assuring her that hewould never 
have allowed her to say the words to the ambassador. 1 

In 1 5 10 Louis and Anne sustained an irreparable 
loss by the death of the Cardinal d'Amboise. 

As usual, the French successes in Italy had been 
short lived. The Venetians under their famous 
Doge, Loredan, had reconquered nearly all their 
territory, and the members of the league of Cambrai 
had turned against France, the Milanese was lost, and 
the King of Spain seized the Spanish side of Navarre 
including Pampeluna. Catherine de Foix, heiress of 

1 Brantome, "Dames illustres," t. v. p. 9. 



V 



i5n] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 361 

the gallant Princes of Navarre and Queen in her 
own right, remarked to her husband, Jean d'Albret, 
" Dom Jean, if you had been born Catherine and I 
Dom Jean, we should never have lost Navarre." x 

The Queen had so dangerous an illness in March, 
151 1, that her life was despaired of; but after V 
receiving the Communion she revived and by the 
middle of April was tolerably well. In the following 
January she had another son, who died like all his 
brothers, and the doctors managed the Queen so 
badly that her health was permanently injured. Late 
in March the Austrian ambassador, who went to take 
leave of her, found her still in bed but brave, cheerful, 
and taking her usual interest in public affairs. She 
did not get up until May, when she appeared much 
better, but never really regained her strength, and 
just then many circumstances combined to depress 
and trouble her. 

A great battle was fought August 10, 15 12, 
between the French and English fleets. The Regent 
with the English Admiral on board attacked the 
famous Cordelier e, commanded by the Breton Herve 
Portzmoguet. The two ships were grappled together, 
the battle raged fiercely and the dead lay in heaps on 
the decks. Then Portzmoguet, seeing that all hope 
was lost, set fire to both vessels, and, clad in complete 
armour, threw himself from the mast into the sea. 
The ships went down together with more than two 
thousand men, the French fleet drew off to Brest, 
the English to the high seas. 2 

1 Henault, " Hist. France," t. i. p. 442. 

2 Alain Bouchard, " Chron. de Bretagne," quoted by Le Roux de 
Lincy, &c. 



362 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT [1514 

There was strife between the King and Pope, and 
the Queen's views were strongly opposed to those of 
Louis. The Pope laid France under an interdict 
from which he excepted Bretagne. In vain the King 
assured her that women had no voice in Church 
matters ; she had but to point to Bretagne as her 
answer, and to remind him that at fourteen years old 
she had successfully opposed Innocent III. when he 
illegally appointed two of his nephews to benefices in 
her duchy. Also that her influence had prevented 
Louis from occupying Rome, when, after the battle of 
Ravenna, the road to the Eternal City lay open to his 
victorious troops. She ultimately induced him to 
subscribe to the Lateran Council, whereby the 
Roman gained the victory over the Gallican party in 
the Church. 1 

Anne was not yet thirty-eight, but her brilliant, 
eventful life was drawing to a close. For a year or 
two her health had been failing and on the 2nd of 
January, 15 14, she was taken ill at Blois and died 
a week afterwards. Knowing that she would not 
recover, one of her last orders was that her heart 
should be sent to Nantes and laid in the tomb of her 
father and mother in the land and among the people 
she had so faithfully loved. 

The King shut himself up alone for days wearing 
the black mourning he had chosen, contrary to the 
custom for Kings of France. From the shock of the 
Queen's death he never recovered. He only survived 
for two months the preposterous marriage he was 
induced to make in the following year with the 

1 Louarches, " Les Femmes dans l'hist. France," p. 105. 



1514] ANNE DE BRETAGNE 363 

young sister of Henry VIII. for the purpose of 
stopping the English war. Claude, wife of Francois I., v 
died ten years after her mother leaving several 
children, one of whom was Henri II., whose three 
sons were the last kings of the house of Valois. 

The funeral of the Queen at St. Denis was of 
more than usual magnificence, and when her coffin 
was lowered into the tomb there stepped forward 
Champagne King-at-arms who, after calling three 
times for silence,, said, " King-at-arms of the Bretons, 
do your duty." Then Bretagne King-at-arms in his 
coat of mail stepped forward and proclaimed, " The 
most Christian Queen and Duchess, our sovereign 
Lady and Mistress, is dead ? The Queen is dead ! 
The Queen is dead ! " The Chevalier dhonneur with 
the hand of justice, the Grand Maitre de Bretagne 
(brother of the Queen) with the sceptre, and the 
grand ecuyer with the crown advanced, kissed them, 
and gave them to the Bretagne King-at-arms, who 
laid them on the coffin. 1 - 

In France, to which she had given a great province, 
Anne de Bretagne was soon forgotten; but, in the 
land she loved and ruled so well four hundred years ^ 
ago, her name and her memory are still honoured 
and cherished by her own people. 

1 M. Le Roux de Lincy giving these details says they only exist in 
a manuscript called " Le trepas de l'Hermine regrettee." MS. fol. 
35- v°. 



J^XXXXl 



D'ker mines. 




INDEX 



Abbeville, 81 

Agnadel, battle of, 357 

Aire, castle of, 272 

Albret, Alain de : wishes to marry 

Anne de Bretagne, 307 ; she 

consents to betrothal, 308 ; she 

refuses to marry him, 310, 311 ; 

his rebellion, 313, 314; marriage 

of his daughter, 340 
Albret, Armand de : married Mar- 
guerite de Bourbon, 69 
Albret, Charles de : commanded at 

battle of Azincourt, 271 
Albret, Jean de, 361 
Alexander VI. (see Borgia) 
Alencon, 8, 99, 256, 357 
Alencon (see Catherine) 
Amadeo VI., Count of Savoy 

(called Green Count), 4, 5, 13, 

14, 85 
Amadeo VII., Count of Savoy 

(called Red Count), 85 
Amadeo VIII., Count of Savoy, 85 
Amboise, George, Cardinal de, 332, 

340, 351, 360 
Amboise, Chateau de, 301, 322, 

324, 326, 343, 347, 351 
Amiens, Jacquerie, 22 ; fair of, 113- 

115 ; conference, 158 
Ampoulle, 54 

Angouleme, Francois de (see Valois) 
Angouleme, Jean, Comte de, 261 
Angouleme, Marguerite de, 357 
Anjou, Louis, Due de, second son of 



Jean, King of France : knighted, 
8 ; hostage in England, 46 ; 
breaks parole, 50 ; bad govern- 
ment, 98 ; disputed precedence 
with Burgundy, 131 ; death, 131 
Anjou (see Marie d'Anjou) 
Anne de Beaujeu, daughter of 
Louis XL, Regent of France, 
302, 318, 322 
Anne de Bourgogne, 338 
Anne, Duchesse de Bretagne, 88 
Anne, Duchesse de Bretagne, wife 
of Charles VIII. and Louis XII. : 
birth and childhood, 302-308 ; 
refuses Albret, 308 ; succeeds to 
duchy, 308 ; first council, 309 ; 
war with France, 312; marriage 
with King of the Romans, 314; 
besieged at Rennes, 316; be- 
trothed to Charles VIII. , 318; 
marriage, 320; coronation, 321 ; 
birth of Dauphin, 322 ; Italian 
war, 323 ; return of King and 
death of Dauphin, 324 ; birth 
and death of other children, 325 ; 
death of Charles VIII. , 327 ; 
Queen goes to Paris, 329 ; be- 
trothed to Louis XII. , 331 ; re- 
turns to Bretagne, 331 ; marries 
Louis XII., 335 ; birth of Claude 
de France, 337 ; hotel des Tour- 
nelles, 338 ; maids of honour, 
338 ; gardens, court, pursuits, 
and dress, 343 ; betrothal of 
Claude de France to the Duke 



36; 



3 66 



INDEX 



of Luxemberg, 345 ; birth and 
death of a son, 345 ; quarrel with 
Gie, 346 ; pilgrimage to Bretagne 
after King's illness, 348 ; be- 
trothal of Claude de France to 
Francois Due de Valois, 351, 352; 
birth of Renee de France, 352 ; 
love of music, 359 ; gives a 
bell to cathedral of Chartres, 
359 ; anger with Chalais, 360 ; 
dangerous illness, 361 ; birth of 
another son, his death, 361 ; 
death of the Queen, 362 ; her 
funeral, 363 

Agnes Sorel, 300, 304 

Anne de Candale, 339, 340 

Anne de Foix, 338 

Anne de Graville, 353-356 

Anne de Rohan, 340 

Aquitaine (see Louis de France) 

Ardres, 184 

Arleux, Chateau de, 16, 21 

Armagnac, Bernard, Comte de, 254, 
256, 269, 277, 282, 283, 288 

Armagnacs, 286, 287, 291 

Arras, 155, 272, 298 

Augustins, 295 

Auton, Jean de, 348 

Auvergne, Jeanne, Comtesse de, 
second wife of Jean, King of 
France, 8 

Auvergne, Eleonore de Comminges, 
Comtesse de, 139, 141 

Avaugour, Francois Baron de, son 
of Francois II., Due de Bretagne, 
and Antoinette de Maignelais, 

3.09, 329, 363 
Avignon, plague at, 47 ; Charles VI. 

at, 153 
Azincourt, battle of, 272-277 



B 



Bar, Marie, Duchesse de, youngest 

daughter of Robert II., Duke of 

Burgundy, 47 
Bar, Edouard, Due de, 59, 228, 

263, 276 
Bar, Marie, Duchesse de, daughter 

of Jean, King of France, 59 
Barbette, hotel de, 206, 216, 236 



Basoche, clercs de la, 347 

Bastille, 81, 167, 192, 204, 287 

Bavaria, no 

Beaumont-sur-Oise, Chateau de, 20 

Beaute, chateau de, 74, 81, 102, 
105, 126, 154, 222 

Beauvais, 22 

Beaujeu (see Anne de Beaujeu) 

Begue de Vilaine, 24, 58 

Berry (now spelt Berri), Jean, Due 
de, third son of Jean, King of 
France : hostage in England, 46 ; 
ransom, 51 ; bad qualities, 59 ; 
christening of Dauphin, 79 ; meets 
the Emperor, 99 ; guardian to his 
nephews, in, 122; regent, 124; 
Charles VI. obliges him to resign, 
126 ; grasping and unpopular, 131 ; 
marriage, 139, 141, 142 ; gives 
house to Isabeau, 152 ; conference 
at Amiens, 158 ; opposes war with 
Bretagne, 163 ; regency, 167 ; 
saves La Riviere, 168 ; opposes 
Orleans, 170; the ball, 174; 
attends wedding of Richard II. 
and Isabellede France, 185, 186; 
marriage of his daughter with 
Henry of Lancaster prevented, 
209 ; illness and recovery, 225 ; 
mediates between Queen and 
Burgundy, 232 ; occupies hotel 
de Nesle, 233 ; grief at murder of 
Louis d'Orleans, 241 ; conference 
at Chartres, 249 ; Armagnac con- 
nections, 254 ; disputes regency, 
268, death, 280 

Berry, Duchesse de, 142, 148, 168, 
172, 173 

Bertrand du Guesclin : commands 
French troops, 52 ; takes prisoner 
the Captal de Buch, 56 ; avenges 
the murder of Blanche de Bour- 
bon on Pedro el Cruel, 58 ; made 
Constable of France, 81 ; god- 
father to Louis de France, 87 ; 
his life and death, 90-93 ; buried 
at Saint-Denis, 132 

Blanche de Bourbon : birth, 3 ; 
marries Pedro el Cruel, King of 
Spain, n ; imprisoned by him, 
13 ; murdered, 57 



INDEX 



367 



Blanche de Navarre, wife of Philippe 
VI. : godmother to daughter of 
Charles V. , 6, 7 ; arranges state 
entry of Isabeau de Baviere, 148; 
death, 193, 194 

Blanche de France, daughter of 
Charles IV., Duchesse d'Orleans, 
20, 33, 79, 125, 340 

Blois, Chateau de, 182, 248, 249, 

325> 336, 337, 343' 347, 357, 

362 
Bonne d'Artois, daughter of Philippe 

Due de Bourgogne, 155 
Bonne de Luxembourg, first wife of 

Jean, King of France, 10 
Bonne de Bourbon, wife of Amadeo 

VI., Count of Savoy, 3, 14, 

85 
Bonne de France, daughter of 

Charles V., 41, 45 
Borgia, Alexander VI., 330, 332, 

340 
Borgia, Cesare, son of Alexander 

vi., 332-335, 340 

Bosredon, Louis de, 283 

Bourbon, Catherine de, Comtesse 
de Harcourt, 3, 35 

Bourbon, Isabelle, Duchesse de (see 
Valois) 

Bourbon, Louis II., Due de : birth, 
3 ; succeeds to duchy, 15 ; hostage, 
46 ; christening of Dauphin, 79 ; 
love for du Guesclin, 81 ; defends 
his mother and sister, 85 ; mar- 
riage, 85 ; good qualities and 
popularity, 86 ; guardian to 
nephews, 98 ; meets the Emperor, 
99 ; affection of Charles VI. for 
him, 126 ; knighthood of King 
of Sicily, 136; wise government, 
155 ; godfather to Charles d'Or- 
leans, 157 ; wedding of King and 
Queen of England, 185, 187 ; 
goes to Melun, 232 ; indignation 
at murder of Louis d'Orleans, 241 ; 
his death, 254 

Bourbon, Jean, Due de, 155, 256, 
264, 277, 288 

Bourbon, Marguerite, Dame d'Al- 
bret, 3 

Bourbon, Pierre Due de : marries 



Isabelle de Valois, 3 ; Crecy, 4 ; 
arranges marriage of eldest 
daughter, 5 ; of second daughter, 
11 ; killed at Poitiers, 15 

Bourges, 259 

Brabant, Duchesse de, 112, 113, 
116 

Brabant, Due de, 276 

Bretagne, Due de, 161, 163 

Bretagne, Jean, Due de, 183, 190, 
246, 251, 252 

Bretagne, Jeanne, Duchesse de, 
second daughter of Charles VI. : 
born, 153; betrothed, 183; mar- 
ried, 190 ; remained with her 
mother, 195, 217 ; quarrel with 
her husband, 251 ; reconciliation, 
252 ; birth of a son, 253 ; survived 
the Queen, 296 

Bretagne, Francois II., Due de (see 
Francois) 

Bretigny, treaty of, 41, 42, 288 

Briconnet, Cardinal, 328 

Burgundy, Philippe de Rouvre, last 
Capetien Duke of, 8, 47 

Burgundy, Philippe, fourth son of 
Jean, King of France : first Valois 
Duke of, 57 ; favourite brother of 
Charles V., 59 ; guardian to his 
nephews, 98 ; meets Emperor, 
99 ; oppressive government, 11 1 ; 
marriage of his daughter to 
Bavarian prince, 112; mismanage- 
ment of his nephew, 120, 121, 
125; character, 130, 131; op- 
poses Due de Bourbon, 155 ; 
Amiens, 158 ; opposes war with 
Bretagne, 163 ; present when 
King went mad, 165 ; seizes 
government and persecutes La 
Riviere and others, 166-170; 
ball, 174; disputed King's per- 
mission, 177 ; attends marriage of 
Richard II. of England and Isa- 
belle de France, 185, 187 ; levies 
enormous taxes on his vassals, 
187 ; funeral of Queen Blanche 
de Navarre, 194 ; dissensions with 
Louis Due d'Orleans, 208 ; with 
Lancaster, 209 ; disapproves mar- 
riage of Isabelle, Queen-dowager 



3 68 



INDEX 



of England, 212 ; meets her with 
escort, 219 ; hatred between Bur- 
gundy and Orleans, 221, 223 ; 
death, 224 

Burgundy, Jean Sans-peur, Duke of : 
swears vengeance against Louis 
d'Orleans, 221 ; character, 225 ; 
captures the Dauphin, 232 ; mur- 
ders Louis, Due d'Orleans, 239 ; 
confesses crime, flight, 241 ; im- 
punity and power, 242-245 ; re- 
turns to Paris, 249 ; conference 
at Chartres and influence over 
Dauphin, 250 ; sent for to punish 
the Due de Bretagne, 252 ; 
governor of the Dauphin, 253 ; 
interferes to protect his daughter, 
256 ; quarrels with his son-in-law 
the Dauphin, 256 ; siege of 
Bourges, 259 ; riots, 261-265 ; 
La Cassinelle, 269 ; forbids his 
son to be at Azincourt, 272 ; 
accused of poisoning the Dauphin, 
278 ; delivers the Queen, 285 ; 
gets into Paris and massacres the 
Armagnacs, 287 ; goes with Queen 
to Melun, 288 ; peace with Dau- 
phin Charles, 290 ; murdered, 
292 

Burgundy, Philippe le Bon, Duke 
of : betrothed to Michelle de 
France, 224; married, 251; re- 
turns to Burgundy, 265 ; grief at 
being prevented being at Azin- 
court, 272 ; at his father's assassi- 
nation, 292 ; enters Paris with the 
Kings and Queens of England and 
France, 293 

Burgundy, Marguerite de Flandre, 
wife of Philippe de Rouvre and 
Philippe de France, Dukes of 
Burgundy : inherits Flanders and 
Hainault, 48 ; harmonious life led 
by Philippe and Marguerite, 130; 
their death, 224, 225 

Burgundy, Marguerite, eldest 
daughter of Philippe and Mar- 
guerite, Duke and Duchess of 
Burgundy ; wife of Louis, Due 
d'Aquitaine and Dauphin, 224, 
243, 248, 255, 258, 277, 278 



Cale, Guillaume, leader of the 
Jacquerie, 22, 31 

Cambrai, 99, 112, 178, 357 

Canny, Dame de, 216 

Canny, Sieur de, 240 

Captal de Buch, Jean de Grailly, 27, 
28, 56 

Carmelites, 36, 37, 295 

Cassinelle, 256, 269 

Catherine d'Alencon, 201, 260, 267 

Catherine de France, daughter of 
Charles V., 104, 121, 125 

Catherine de France, daughter ot 
Charles VI., 215, 288, 289, 293, 
294, 296 

Catherine de Foix, 361 

Celestins, 35, 60, 61, 62, 180, 255 

Chandos, Sir John, 81, 139 

Chalais, Prince de, 360 

Chalons, Jean de (see Orange) 

Charles V., King of France : be- 
trothed to Jeanne de Bourbon, 6 ; 
married to her, 7 ; Duke of Nor- 
mandy, 9 ; Vivier-en-Brie, 10 ; 
regent, 16 ; visit to the Emperor, 
16; Meaux, 23, 24; returns to 
Paris, 35 ; Carmelites, 37 ; treaty 
of Bretigny, 42 ; death of two 
daughters, 45 ; misrule, 49 ; 
siege of Vernon, 52 ; coronation 
and state entry, 53-57 ; war with 
Pedro el Cruel, 59 ; difficulties 
and ill-health, 59 ; 60; Celestins, 
60, 61, 62; library treasures, 
63-67 ; the Louvre and its gar- 
dens, 69-75 ; King's barge, 77 ; 
birth and christening of Dauphin, 
72—79 ; gets rid of the Grande 
Compagnie, 79 ; prosperity of 
kingdom, 81 ; Hotel St. Paul, 
82-84 '■> pilgrimages, 90 ; success 
and happiness, 91 ; Louis de 
Harcourt, 93 ; life at court, 93-97 ; 
distrust of his brothers, 98 ; will, 
99 ; visit of the Emperor, 99-104 ; 
death of the Queen, 104 ; death 
of Charles V., 105 

Charles VI. , King of France : birth, 
christening, 77, 79 ; visit of Em- 



INDEX 



3 6 9 



peror, 102, 103 ; succeeds to 
throne, 107 ; negotiations for mar- 
riage, 110-113 ; fair of Amiens, 
1 13- 1 16 ; Isabeau de Baviere, 
116,117; wedding, 117; charac- 
ter and education of Charles VI., 
1 18-122; assumes government, 
126 ; birth and death of Dauphin, 
127; dress, 130; splendour of 
fetes for knighthood of the King 
of Sicily 134, 135 ; opposes mar- 
riage of Due de Berry, 142 ; fetes 
for marriage of Louis d'Orleans, 
affection for Valentine Visconti, 
142-145 ; state entry of Queen, 
148, 149 ; coronation of Queen, 
150, 151 ; southern tour, 152-155; 
birth of second Dauphin Charles, 
157 ; Pierre de Craon and the 
Constable de Clisson, 158-163 ; 
war with Bretagne, 163, 164 ; 
madness of Charles VI., 164-169; 
recover)', 169, 170; fire at the 
ball, 1 71-175 ; second attack of 
madness, 175 ; second recovery, 
176-178 ; madness returned, 179 ; 
affection for Valentine, 180; re- 
covered again, 182 ; at wedding 
of Richard II. and Isabelle, 
184-187 ; attends the profession 
of his daughter Marie at Poissy, 
190, 191 ; declining health, 190, 
194; receives news of Queen of 
England, 206 ; anxiety for Queen 
of England and displeasure with 
Lancaster, 208, 209 ; alarm 
caused by English revolution 
brings on attack of madness, 210; 
frequent attacks, 214, 215 ; joy 
at return of Queen of England, 
219 ; bad health, 222, 223 ; calls 
council, 223 ; his respect for 
Philippe, Duke of Burgundy, 22.6 ; 
anger with Savoisy, 227 ; Jacques 
Legrand, 228 ; the King and the 
Princess Marie, 229 ; the King and 
the Dauphin, 230 ; summons Jean 
Sans-peur, 231 ; bad attack, 233; 
disguised men, 233, 234 ; horror 
at murder of Due d'Orleans, 240; 
bad health, 242, 243 ; receives 



Valentine, 245 ; goes to Melun 
to the Queen, 246 ; Odette de 
Champdivers, 247 ; conference of 
Chartres, 249 ; returns to Paris 
and sends for Duke of Burgundy, 
251 ; quarrel with Due de Bre- 
tagne, 252 ; appoints Burgundy 
governor to Dauphin, 253 ; letter 
to Due de Bourbon, 255 ; riots, 
260, 268 ; Azincourt, 272-277 ; 
King ill, 278 ; execution of Bos- 
redon, quarrel with the Queen, 
her imprisonment, 282-284 ; in 
the hands of Burgundians, 287 ; 
attack of frenzy, 288 ; desires 
Dauphin to make peace with 
Burgundy, 289 ; goes to Troyes, 
290 ; Paris, 293 ; death, 294 ; 
funeral, 295, 296 

Charles VII., King of France : 
birth, 221 ; betrothed to Marie 
d'Anjou, 267 ; Due de Touraine, 
280 ; Armagnac, 281, 282 ; quarrel 
with Queen, 283, 284 ; fled to 
Bastille, 2S7 ; Burgundy and Ar- 
magnac, 288 ; murder of Bur- 
gundy, 291 ; excluded from suc- 
cession, 292 ; in exile, 294 ; treaty 
of Arras, 298, 300, 301 

Charles VIII. , King of France, 302 ; 
war with Bretagne, 308-315 ; 
siege of Rennes, 316, 317 ; be- 
trothed to Anne de Bretagne, 
318 ; broke off marriage with 
Marguerite of Austria, 318 ; mar- 
ried Anne de Bretagne, 320 ; 
character, 321, 322 ; lived at 
Plessis and Amboise, 322 ; birth 
of Dauphin, 322 ; departure for 
Italy, 323 ; return, 324 ; despair 
at loss of his children, 325 ; 
treasures he brought from Italy, 
326 ; death, 327 ; funeral, 329 

Charles IV. , Emperor, son of Jean, 
King of Bohemia, 17, 99, 104 

Charles, eldest son of Charles VI., 
127 

Charles, Dauphin, second son of 
Charles VI., 157, 181, 211, 214 

Charles le Mauvais, King of Na- 
varre, 16, 21, 30, 31, 35, 47, 52, 59 

25 



37o 



INDEX 



Charles le Bon, King of Navarre, 

226, 249 
Charles, Due d'Orleans : birth, 157 ; 
marries Isabelle, Queen-dowager 
of England, 234, 235 ; sent to 
Blois, 245, 248 ; conference of 
Chartres, 250 ; death of Isabelle, 
252, 253 ; marries Bonne d'Ar- 
magnac, 254 ; treaty with English, 
256 ; with princes at Vernon, 264 ; 
taken prisoner at Azincourt, 277 ; 
disapproved his son's marriage, 
305> 325 

Charlotte d'Aragon : refuses Caesar 
Borgia, 334 ; marries Guy de 
Laval, 340 

Charlotte de Savoie, Queen of 
France, 301, 302 

Chartreux, 176 

Chatelet, 204, 286, 359 

Chateauneuf-Randon, death of Ber- 
trand du Guesclin, 91 

Chelles, abbey de, 62 

Christine de Pisan, 76, 95, 97 
' Claude, Queen of France : birth, 
337 ; betrothed to Duke of Lux- 
emburg, 345 ; heiress of Bretagne, 
346 ; betrothed to Due de Valois, 
352 ; illness, 356 ; death, 363 

Clarence, Lionel, Duke of, second 
son of Edward III., King of 
England, 246, 261 

Clermont, Chateau de, 31, 86 

Clermont, Jean de {see Bourbon) 

Clisson, Constable de, 161, 163, 167 

Comets, 68 

Comminges, Comte de, 309, 313 

Comminges, Comtesse de, 139, 141 

Compiegne, 22, 99 

Cordelicre, Marie la, favourite ship 
of Anne de Bretagne, 341 ; she 
visits it, 350 ; sunk in sea fight, 
360 

Cordeliere, order of Anne de Bre- 
tagne, 344 

Cordeliers, 203, 295, 337 

Coucy, Dame de, 186, 210 

Coucy, Seigneur de, 168 

Craon, Pierre de, 158-163 

Crecy, battle of, 4, 18 

Creil, 81, 125, 169 



D 

Dauphin du Viennois, Humbert de 

la Tour du Pin, 5, 6 
Dunois, Jean, Comte de, son of 

Louis, Due d'Orleans and the 

Dame de Canny, called Bastard 

of Orleans, 216, 249 
Dunois, Comte de, 309, 313-315, 

3i8, 319 
Dunois, Comte de, 349 



Eclipse, 234 

Edward III., King of England, 52, 

243, 272 
Edward, Prince of Wales (Black 

Prince), 6-9 
Eleonore de Guzman, 12 
Entragues, Baron de, 355 
Ermenonville, 20 
Etienne Marcel : provost of Paris, 

16; Jacquerie, 27, 28; death, 

' 34 
Etuves or public baths, 199, 200 



Foix, Gaston, Comte de : called 
Gaston Phoebus, 27, 28, 139-142 

Foix, Comte de, 307 

Foix, Germaine de, 339, 340 

Foix {see Catherine) 

Francois, Due de Valois, afterwards 
Francois II., King of France, 
348, 352 

Francois II., Due de Bretagne, 

303 ; Antoinette de Maignelais, 

304 ; character, 305 ; Landais, 
307 ; battle of St. Aubin, death, 
308 

Francoise de Dinan, Dame de 
Laval, 304, 308-312, 314, 317, 
320, 321 
Freron, Doctor, 176, 177, 178 
Friederich von Landshut {see 
Wittelsbach) 



Giac, Madame de, 289 
Gie, Marechal de, 346, 347 



INDEX 



37i 



Gilles, 24 

Guerande, Chateau de, 309 

H 

Hainault, Jacqueline de : wife of 
Jean, Due de Touraine and 
Dauphin, fourth son of Charles 
VI., 234, 235, 278-280 

Harcourt, Jean de, married 
Catherine de Bourbon, 35 

Harcourt, Louis de, 93 

Harfieur, battle of, 271 

Hasseley, Guillaume, doctor, 169, 
170 

Henry IV., Duke of Lancaster, 
King of England : exiled for 
treasonable practices, 208 ; pro- 
poses to marry daughter of Due de 
Berry, 209 ; indignation of French 
at his usurpation, 210 ; wishes to 
marry Isabelle de France, widow 
of Richard II., to Prince of 
Wales, 213 ; detains her jewels 
and dowry, 219; absurd claim to 
French crown, 244; death, 261 

Henry V., King of England, 261 ; 
invades France, 270 ; Harfieur, 
271 ; Azincourt, 272-277 ; negoti- 
ations for his marriage with 
Catherine de France, 288, 289 ; 
is betrothed to her and declared 
- Regent and heir of France, 292 ; 
marriage, 293 ; departure to 
England and birth of a son, 
293 ; return to France, 293 ; 
death, 294 

Henry VI., King of England and 
France : birth, 293 ; enters Paris, 
297 - 



Isabeau de Baviere, wife of Charles 
VI. : birth and childhood, 109 ; 
negotiations for marriage with 
Charles VI., 1 10-112; fair 
of Amiens, 113-116; inter- 
view with the King, 116, 
117; wedding, 117; beauty of 
Isabeau, 122 ; remains at Creil, I 
125 ; birth and death of first 1 



Dauphin Charles, 126, 127; birth 
of Isabelle de France, 127 ; 
character of Isabeau, 128 ; dress 
at court, 129, 130; fetes for the 
knighthood of King of Sicily, 
134-137 ; Isabeau and Louis 
d'Orleans, 138 ; jealousy of 
Valentine Visconti, 145 ; state 
entry and coronation, 147-152; 
absence of the King, 152; 
birth of Jeanne de France, 
153 ; at Beaute, return of King 
and his brother, 154; storm 
at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 156; 
birth of the second Dauphin 
Charles, 157 ; of Marie de 
France, 167 ; goes to the King 
at Creil, 169 ; returns to Paris, 
170; has her own argentier, 
171; ball, 172-174; King does 
not know her, 175 ; birth of 
Michelle de France, 176 ; quarrels 
with Duchess of Burgundy, 179 ; 
birth of Louis de France, 182 ; 
Poissy, 193, 194 ; birth of Jean 
de France, 193 ; tastes, pursuits, 
and household, 194-200 ; amasses 
treasure, 201 ; hotels, 206; letters 
from England, 206 ; anxiety for 
Queen of England, 208, 210 ; 
birth of Catherine de France, 215 ; 
society and amusements of Isa- 
beau and Louis d'Orleans, 215, 
217 ; Isabeau and her children, 
217, 218 ; fools and dwarfs, 218 ; 
return of Queen of England, 
219 ; tries to mediate between 
Orleans and Burgundy, 221 ; 
birth of Charles de France (after- 
wards Charles VII.), 221 ; fete 
at hotel Barbette, 222 ; council, 
223 ; betrothal of Michelle de 
France, 224 ; receives complaint 
of University, 226 ; treasures of 
Isabeau and Ludwig of Bavaria 
stopped, 227 ; Jacques Legrand, 
228 ; the Queen and Princess 
Marie, 229 ; the forest of Saint- 
Germain, 229 ; neglect of her 
children, 230 ; flight to Melun, 
231 ; Burgundy seizes the Dau- 



372 



INDEX 



phin, 232 ; anger with some of 
her household, 233 ; returns to 
Saint Paul, 233 ; objects of Jean, 
Due de Touraine, going to Hai- 
nault, 235 ; birth and death of 
Philippe de France, 236 ; murder 
of Louis d' Orleans, 236-241 ; im- 
plores vengeance, 243 ; goes to 
Melun, 243 ; consecration of 
Princess Marie, King's visit to 
Melun, Queen returns to Louvre, 
246, 247 ; Odette de Champdivers, 

247 ; goes with children to Tours, 

248 ; conference of Chartres, 249, 
250 ; returns to Paris, 251 ; anger 
with son-in-law, Due de Bretagne, 
252 ; gives up charge of the Due 
d'Aquitaine, 253 ; takes care of 
Duchesse d'Aquitaine, 256 ; 
threatens Due d'Aquitaine, 259 ; 
riots, 260-264 ; quarrel with 
Aquitaine, 267 ; flight from 
Melun after battle of Azincourt, 
277 ; sends for Jean, Due de 
Touraine, now Dauphin, 278 ; 
goes to Senlis with Charles, 
now Due de Touraine, 280 ; 
absurd accusation of poisoning 
him, 281 ; unfortunate relations 
with her sons, 282 ; violent 
quarrel with King and Charles, 
the new Dauphin, 283 ; im- 
prisonment, 284; appeals to Jean 
Sans-peur, 284 ; he rescues her, 
285 ; she assumes the regency, 
285 ; they enter Paris, 287 ; 
massacre of Armagnacs and recon- 
ciliation with King, 287 ; the 
Princess Catherine, 288, 289 ; 
truce with Dauphin, 289 ; goes to 
Troyes, 291 ; spends Christmas 
at Paris, 293, 294 ; death of 
Charles VI., 294; years of widow- 
hood, 296 ; her grandson, Henry 
VI., 297 ; death, 297 

Isabelle de France, daughter of 
Jean, King of France : besieged 
in Meaux, 26 ; forced to marry 
Giovanni Visconti, 43, 44 ; 
splendour of her life in Italy, 
142, 143 ; death, 143 



Isabelle de France, daughter of 
Charles V. : birth, betrothal, 
death, 87, 99, 104 

Isabelle de Valois, daughter of 
Charles de Valois : married Pierre, 
Due de Bourbon, 3 ; left Paris, 5 ; 
lived much at court, 57 ; captured 
by free companies, 85 ; exchanged, 
86 ; meets her daughters, 86, 87 ; 
the Duchesse de Bourbon and the 
Emperor, 102, 103; takes charge 
of her granddaughters, retired 
into convent of Cordelieres, death, 
105, 125 

Isabelle de Bretagne, second 
daughter of Francois II., Due 
de Bretagne, 303, 304, 309, 312, 

3*3> 317 
Isabelle de France, eldest daughter 
of Charles VI., wife of Richard 
II., King of England: birth, 
127 ; receives English ambas- 
sadors, 183 ; marriage, 183-187 ; 
letters to parents, 206 ; English 
revolution, 210; courage, love 
for Richard, his death, 213 ; 
returns to France, 219 ; marries 
Charles d'Orleans, 235 ; death, 
252 

J 

Jacobins, 15, 202, 295 

Jacquerie, 20-32 

Jean, King of France, 7 ; corona- 
tion, 8; treaty with Spain, 10; 
battle of Poitiers, captivity, 14 ; 
released, 42 ; disastrous treaty, 
43 ; fetes at Calais, 44, 45 ; seizes 
Burgundy, 47, 48 ; his amuse- 
ments, 49 ; returns to England, 
50, 51 ; death, 52 

Jean de France, Due de Touraine, 
afterwards Dauphin, fourth son of 
Charles VI. : birth and childhood, 
193, 217, 218 ; proposed marriage 
with a daughter of Burgundy, 
224 ; betrothal to Jacqueline de 
Hainault, 224 ; marriage, 234 ; 
goes to Hainault, 235 ; brought 
up there, 259 ; proposal to declare 
him heir of France, 265 ; becomes 



INDEX 



373 



Dauphin, 278 ; goes to Com- 
piegne, 279 ; lives in splendour 
there, 280 ; estranged from the 
Queen, 281 ; death, 281 
Jeanne de France, daughter of Louis 
XL, wife of Louis XII. : unhappy 
marriage, 305 ; divorce, 332 ; 
made Duchesse de Berry, lived 
at Bourges, died there, 332 
Jeanne d'Evreux, wife of Charles 

IV., 32, 52, 67, 90 
Jeanne de France, daughter of 

Philippe VI. , 90 
Jeanne de France, daughter of Jean, 

King of France, 4 
Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of Charles 
V. : birth, 3 ; betrothal to Comte 
de Savoie, 3 ; to Dauphin du Vien- 
nois, 5; to Dauphin of France, 
6 ; her marriage, 7 ; birth of a 
daughter, 20 ; Marche de Meaux, 
20-29 ; returns to Paris, 35 ; birth 
of second daughter, 41 ; death of 
children, 45 ; beauty and popu- 
larity of the Dauphine, 50 ; coro- 
nation, 53, 54, 55 ; entry into 
Paris, 56 ; the King's love for the 
Queen, 60 ; their literary tastes, 
61 ; birth and death of a daughter, 
67 ; household and daily life, 68 ; 
birth of Dauphin, 77 ; illness of 
the Queen, 89 ; birth of Marie de 
France, 84 ; the Queen's mother, 
86 ; birth of Louis and Isabelle 
de France, 8j ; illness of the 
Queen, 89 ; life at court, 93-96 ; 
the last fete of the court of 
Jeanne de Bourbon, 1 01-104 ; 
birth of Catherine de France and 
death of Queen, 104 
Jeanne de France, daughter of 

Charles V., 20, 45 
Jeanne de France, daughter of 

Charles V. , 67 
Jeanne de France, daughter of 

Charles VI. (see Bretagne) 
Jeanne de Laval, Queen of Sicily, 

329, 331 
Joan (see Jeanne de France, daughter 

of King Jean) 
Jussi, Robert de, 36, 37 



Ladislas, King of Hungary, Poland, 
and Bohemia, 339 

Lancaster (see Henry IV. ) 

Langue d'oc, 17, 98, 179, 223 

Langue d'oil, 17 

Laval, Francoise de Dinan, Dame 
de (see Francoise) 

Lendit, fair of, 115, 222 

Loches, Chateau de, 301, 341 

Loredan, Doge of Venice, 360 

Lorris, Robert, 24 

Louis de France, Due d'Anjou (see 
Anjou) 

Louis de France, Due d'Orleans, 
second son of Charles V. : birth, 
87 ; visit of the Emperor, 102, 
103 ; talents, 121 ; Comte de 
Valois et Due de Touraine, 124 ; 
opposes his uncles, 125 ; Louis 
and Isabeau, 138 ; marriage of 
Loviis with Valentine Visconti, 
142, 145 ; journey to Provence, 
152 ; race to Paris, 154 ; love 
affair and quarrel with Craon, 
1 58-1 6 1 ; King goes mad and 
attacks him, 164 ; ball, 172 - 
174 ; accused of sorcery, 180, 
193 ; etuves, 199 ; power and 
ambition, 208 ; goes to Notre 
Dame and Ste. Catherine, 214 ; 
society of Queen and Due 
d'Orleans, 216, 217 ; expedition 
to Luxemburg, 219 ; hatred and 
rivalry between Orleans and 
Burgundy, 220, 221 ; oppressive 
government, 223 ; Jean Sans- 
peur and Louis d'Orleans, 225, 
226 ; amasses treasure, 227 ; 
helps the Queen to persuade 
Princess Marie to renounce the 
cloister, 228, 229 ; narrow escape 
in the forest of St. Germain, 229; 
refuses to pay his debts, 230 ; 
goes to Melun with the Queen, 

231 ; will not listen to the King 
of Sicily and Due de Bourbon, 

232 ; returns to Paris, 233 ; hotel 
Barbette, 236 ; murdered, 238, 
239 



I 



374 



INDEX 



Louis de France, Due d'Aquitaine 
and Dauphin, third son of Charles 
VI. : birth, 182 ; Dauphin, 211 ; 
betrothed to Marguerite of Bur- 
gundy, 223 ; marriage, 224 ; the 
King and the Dauphin, 230 ; 
taken by Duke of Burgundy, 
231 ; lodges in Louvre, 232 ; 
weakness of character, 250 ; con- 
duct to his wife, 255, 256 ; stops 
siege of Bourges, 258 ; universally 
disliked, 259 ; dissensions with 
Burgundy, 261 ; riots, 262-266 ; 
quarrel with the Queen, 267, 268 ; 
with his wife and father-in-law, 
269 ; at Rouen before the battle 
of Azincourt, 271 ; death, 278 

Louis XII., King of France and 
Due d'Orleans : quarrel with 
Anne de Beaujeu, Regent of 
France, 304 ; Louis d'Orleans 
and Jeanne de France, 305 ; 
prisoner, 313 ; godfather to 
Dauphin Charles-Orland, 322 ; 
displeasure of Anne Bretagne, 
retires from court, lives at Blois, 
325 ; succeeds to throne, 328 ; 
visits the Queen, 329 ; in love 
with Anne de Bretagne, 331 ; 
divorced from Jeanne de France, 
332 ; marries Anne de Bretagne, 
335 ; their happiness, 336 ; birth 
of Claude de France, 337 ; Les 
Tournelles, 338 ; Italian war, 340, 
341 ; crusade, 342 ; visit of Arch- 
dukes, 244 ; betrothal of Claude 
de France, 345 ; illness of King, 
345 ; recovery, arrests Gie, 346 ; 
clercs de la Basoche, 347 ; summer 
in Touraine, 347 ; another illness, 
348 ; Tommasina Spinola, 348 ; 
recalls Queen from Bretagne, 
351 ; betroths Claude to Francois, 
Due de Valois, 352 ; Italian 
expedition, 356 ; league of Cam- 
brai, 357 ; return to France, 357 ; 
birth of Renee de France, 359 ; 
loss of Italian conquests, 360 ; 
strife with Pope, 362 ; death of 
Queen, 362 ; death of Louis XII. , 
363 



Louis, Due de Bourbon (see Bour- 
bon) 

Louvre, Palais du, 35, 63-67, 102, 
182, 204, 232, 247, 264, 266, 267 



M 



Marcel, Jacques, 36 

Marcoussy, Chateau de, 353-356 

Marguerite de Bourbon (see Bour- 
bon) 

Marguerite de Flandre, (see Bur- 
gundy) 

Marguerite de Valois, daughter of 
Charles, Comte d'Angouleme, 
and sister of Francois L, King of 
France, 357 

Marguerite of Austria, daughter of 
Emperor Maximilian, 119, 318 

Marie d'Anjou, daughter of Louis, 
King of Sicily, wife of Charles 
VII. : married Charles, Comte 
de Ponthieu, fifth son of Charles 
VI., 267, 300 ; takes refuge in 
Bastille, 287 ; rejoins Charles, 
288 ; neglect of Charles VII., 
300; love of her son, Louis XL, 
300 ; death, 300 

Marie de Bourbon, daughter of 
Pierre, Due de Bourbon, Prioress 
of Poissy, 91, 193, 194 

Marie de Clermont, daughter of 
Robert, Comte de Clermont, 
granddaughter of Saint Louis, 
Prioress of Poissy, 90 

Marie de France, daughter of 
Charles V., 84 

Marie de France, daughter of 
Charles VI., Prioress of Poissy : 
birth, 167 ; dedicated to religion, 
167 ; enters convent of Poissy, 
193, 194 ; refuses to leave con- 
vent, 229 ; takes the veil, 246 ; 
survives most of her brothers and 
sisters, 296 

Maximilian, Emperor, 308, 310, 
311, 318, 344, 348 

Michelle de France, Duchess of 
Burgundy, daughter of Charles 
VI. 

Meaux, 20, 29, 34 



INDEX 



375 



Melun, Chateau de, 81, 145, 148, 

154, 221, 232,246, 277, 284 
Montauban, chancellor of Bretagne, 

3II-3I5 
Montereau, 291 

Mortaigne, (see Pierre de Navarre) 
Montjoie Saint Denis, 133 



N 



Nantes, 301, 312, 313, 317, 335, 
362 

Navarre (see Blanche de) 

Navarre (see Charles de) 

Navarre, Pierre de, Comte de Mor- 
taigne, youngest son of Charles 
le Mauvais, King of Navarre, 
136, 194 

Nesle, Hotel de, 221, 233, 241 

Nevers (see Jean Sans-peur, Duke 
of Burgundy) 

Normandie, Due de : Charles, son 
of King Jean, 9 ; favourite title, 
10 

O 

Odette de Champdivers, 247 
Orleans (see Louis de, Philippe de, 

etc.) 
Oriflamme, 132, 273 
Orange, Jean de Chalons, Prince 

de, 313, 3 J 5> 317, 3!9> 3 2 °> 3 2 9 



Palais de la Cite, 56, 69, 10 1, 150, 

253, 264, 266, 347 
Pampeluna, 360 
Pedro el Cruel, King of Spain : 

marriage and crimes, 10-13 '■> 

murder of Blanche de Bourbon, 

57 ; death, 58 
Peers of France, 96 
Philippe VI., de Valois, King of 

France, 6, 8, 10 
Philippe, Archduke of Austria, son 

of Emperor Maximilian, 344, 345 
Plessis-les-Tours, Chateau de, 301 
Poitiers, 14 

Portzmoguet, Admiral, 361 
Pre-aux-clercs, 202 



R 

Renee de France, youngest daughter 
of Louis XII. : Duchess of Fer- 
rara, 359 

Rennes, siege of, 313-318 

Richard II., King of England : 
betrothed to Isabelle de France, 
182 ; married, 185-187 ; letters 
to Charles VI., 206 ; revolution, 
208 ; captivity, 210 ; death, 213 

Rieux, Marechal de : guardian to 
Anne and Isabelle de Bretagne, 
309, 310, 312, 313, 315, 317 

Riviere, Jean de la : friend of 
Charles V. , 95 

Riviere, Bureau de la, 116 ; arranges 
marriage of Duke de Berry, 139- 
141 ; gratitude of the Duchess, 
142 ; arrested and thrown into 
Bastille, 167 ; saved by Duchesse 
de Berry, 168 



Savoisy, chamberlain to Charles 
VI., 151, 226 

St. Aubin, battle of, 308 

Saint-Denis, Abbey of: burial of 
King Jean, 52 ; Charles V. 
returns thanks for birth of 
Dauphin, 78 ; burial of Jeanne 
de Bourbon and Isabelle de 
France, 104 ; knighthood of 
King of Sicily, 132-138; coro- 
nation of Isabeau de Baviere, 
148-150 ; Charles VI., mass after 
recovery from attack of madness, 
176 ; Isabelle de France on her 
way to marry Richard II. of 
England, 185 ; dispute about a 
crown at the consecration i of 
Marie de France, 191 ; relic left 
by Queen Blanche de Navarre, 
194 ; Charles, Dauphin, son of 
Charles VI., rides from Paris to 
St. Denis, 211; prayers for his 
life, 214 ; thanksgivings for peace 
between Orleans and Burgundy, 
221 ; masses for soul of Dauphin 
Charles, 222 ; dresses of Isabelle 



376 



INDEX 



de France given after her death, 
253 ; plague, 28 ; funeral of 
Charles VI., 295 ; coronation of 
Anne de Bretagne, 321 ; her 
second coronation, 347 ; her 
funeral, 363 
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 156, 269 
Saint-Germain-des-Pres, 115, 204 
St. Paul, Hotel de, 42, 76, 77, 78, 
82-84, I02 > io 4> I2I > 157, 161, 
170, 183,215, 216, 217, 219,233, 
239, 240, 245, 247, 260, 294, 329, 

337 
Sforza, Ludovico, 340, 341 
Soulas, Jean, mayor of Meaux, 

22-24 
Spinoza, Tommasina, 348 
Streets of Paris, 205, 206 



Tanneguy du Chastel, provost of 

Paris, 286, 287, 290, 291 
Temple, 204 
Tournelles, Chateau des, 337, 338 

V 

Valois, Francois, Due de (sec Fran- 
cois II., King of France) 

Valois (see Isabelle) 

Vauvert, 176 

Villequier, Antoinette de Maigne- 
lais, Dame de, 304, 307, 309 

Vincennes, 3, 7, 37, 69, 70-75, 102, 
104, 125, 233, 283, 293 

Vivier-en-Brie, Chateau de, 10 

Visconti, Bernabo, 43, 109 

Visconti, Galeazzo, Vicomte et 
Prince de Milan, 43 



Visconti, Giovanni or Gian Ga- 
leazzo, Duke of Milan, 43, 142- 

144, 180, 182 
Visconti, Maddalena, 109 
Visconti, Taddea, 109 

Visconti, Valentine, daughter of 
Gian Galeazzo Visconti and Isa- 
belle de France, wife of Louis, 
Due d'Orleans : birth, childhood, 
and youth in Italy, 142-144 ; 
marries Louis, Due d'Orleans, 

145, 146 ; enters Paris, 148 ; 
remains at Beaute, 154 ; birth of 
a son, 157 ; story of Pierre de 
Craon, 158-160 ; rivalry with 
Duchess of Burgundy, 170 ; affec- 
tion of the King, 175 ; accused of 
sorcery, 180; of attempt to poison 
the Dauphin, 181 ; goes to Blois, 
182 ; enmity with Duchess of 
Burgundy, 220 ; in the country, 
236 ; demands vengeance on the 
murderers of Louis d'Orleans, 
245 ; retires to Blois, 248 ; death, 
249 



W 



Wenceslas, Emperor, 360 
Wittelsbach, house of, 108, 109 
Wittelsbach, Friederich, of Lands- 
hut, Duke of Bavaria, 109-114 
Wittelsbach, Johann, of Munich, 

Duke of Bavaria, 109 
Wittelsbach, Stephan, of Ingolstadt, 

Duke of Bavaria, 109-1 14, 214 
Wittelsbach, Ludwig, son of 
Stephan, Duke of Bavaria, 109, 
201, 227, 231, 232, 260, 263, 266, 
267, 396 



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